Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down Grand Central Station, vandalize NYT building

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated on Friday in Midtown Manhattan, shutting down Grand Central Station, as well as vandalizing and chanting in front of the New York Times building, local media sources reported.

In addition, the protesters scattered editions of a fake newspaper with the words “The New York War Crimes” written on it – which accused the media of “complicity in genocide” and called on the editorial board of the Times to publicly support a ceasefire. Also, the word “lies” was written across the doors of the Times headquarters.

They accused the newspaper of being biased towards Israel and chanted: “Children die, while you lie.”

PROTEST: NEW YORK PRO-PALESTINEIn case you missed it, last night a group of pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas protestors tried forcing their way into the New York Times building in NYC.They can be heard chanting, "WHEN YOU LIE, CHILDREN DIE!"The New York Police Department… pic.twitter.com/CNy8FeNoW9

— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) November 10, 2023

The demonstrators protested for over an hour and read the names of thousands of Palestinians who they claim have been killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been confirmed since the start of the war, according to Maariv. 

Grand Central and Columbus Circle

ABC and Fox reported that services at the terminal were extremely limited as a result of the demonstration. The protesters then went to Grand Central Terminal afterward, where video footage showed some of them kicking and banging to get into the station. 

Shocking scenes outside Grand Central Station in NYC as pro-Palestinian protesters wearing headscarves attempt to smash down the door. pic.twitter.com/SdGQftA1B5

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 11, 2023

The rally, the ABC report stated, started at Columbus Circle with thousands marching to demand a ceasefire to Operation Swords of Iron. Protesters shouted: “No peace on stolen land.”

The demonstration came a day after hundreds of high school students and adults gathered near Bryant Park, heeding the call of a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups for New York City high school students to stage a walkout in protest of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

The crowd chanted “Intifada,” called for a ceasefire, accused Israel of genocide and praised Palestinian “resistance.” Actress Susan Sarandon, a longtime critic of Israel, made an unannounced appearance.

Organizers had released a detailed guide to help students schedule, recruit for, organize and gain administrator consent for the walkout, but the majority of the crowd on Thursday appeared to be older than school age. One speaker told the audience that “over 150” students had walked out of class, out of the hundreds of thousands of high schoolers in the city. Some young people joined the event later in the day, after schools let out.

The crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea,” “Israel is a racist state,” and “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” from the steps of the New York Public Library. Attendees carried signs that said, “Resistance against occupation is a human right,” and “Free all Palestinian political prisoners.” 

Activists posted stickers around the protest saying, “Stop the Holocaust in Gaza” and warning “Zionist donors” against interfering in colleges.

Sarandon told the crowd, “So many people do not understand the context in which this October 7 assault happened. They don’t understand the history of what has been happening to the Palestinian people.”

She added, “It’s time to have an open heart. It’s time to be strong and it’s time that Palestine be free.”

Speakers at the rally decried civilian fatalities in Gaza and framed the war as the focal point of a global struggle against profit-seeking Western imperialism, raising the topics of US labor unions, homelessness in New York City, US taxes, and the policies of New York investment firms.

“The situation in Gaza today is unfathomable,” a speaker from the Palestinian Youth Movement, one of the organizers, told the crowd. “Every day we hear from our people in Gaza, ‘Today was the worst day so far.’

“From the river to the sea, the struggle for Palestinian liberation only grows stronger and stronger in the face of the bombs and bullets of the oppressive Zionist and imperialist world,” said the speaker, who did not share her name.

“The expansionist genocidal nature of the Zionist settler colony could not be more blatant.”

A high schooler told the crowd, “We are showing the people of Gaza that they are being listened to.”

“We are the resistance fighters of the West,” the student said. “And we will not be quiet until Palestine is free.”

The groups organizing the protest demanded an immediate ceasefire and “an end to US support for genocide” in materials addressed to students, teachers and parents released ahead of the rally.

The event, called a “Day of Action,” was sponsored by a number of pro-Palestinian and educators’ groups, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Teachers Unite and the Movement of Rank and File Educators, the progressive caucus within the city teachers union.

The Community Education Council in District 14 in Brooklyn, an elected entity that is part of the city’s school governance structure, also signed onto the rally. The council and several other organizers did not respond to requests for comment. 

The group’s “toolkit” included a guide for calling members of Congress, plans for the student walkout, instructions for educators, drafts for parent-teacher association anti-Israel resolutions, and talking points echoing the messages delivered at the rally. 

The toolkit suggested educators support student protesters by canceling tests or deadlines, and that students should protest inside school buildings if they are not comfortable leaving campus.

Educational materials from organizers appeared to justify the October 7 attacks, saying, “Palestinians tore down the cement walls caging them in the Gaza Strip.” 

The talking points included the claim that Israel had killed 900 people in a hospital bombing last month, which has been debunked by a wide range of assessments by intelligence agencies and publications, and that it was deliberately killing civilians who were fleeing the fighting, which Israel strenuously denies. Israel has opened up protected corridors for civilians to evacuate and has instituted humanitarian pauses to provide for civilian needs.

Rabbi Yossi Schwartz, the director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Student Union in New York, a youth group, said the organization has been grappling with antisemitism in high schools since October 7. The group runs clubs meant to bolster Jewish identity and connections to Israel in around 30 public schools in New York City and Long Island, along with one location in Westchester. 

“I think the world out there knew that it was going on in colleges, but the fact that it’s even in high schools, I think is shocking,” Schwartz said, adding that the group had tallied five antisemitic incidents in New York City public schools in the past week.