Roughly 300 protesters were arrested last night in what organizers called an “emergency sit-in” at Grant Central led by Jewish Voices for Peace.
The chant of the night was “Not in our name; not on our dime!”
As bombs rain down on the Gaza Strip, a shift in public consciousness is taking place on Palestine/Israel. It’s being led by Palestinians and by anti-Zionist Jews, by young people of all races inspired by the racial-justice mass protests of recent years and who refuse to accept that responding to Hamas’ atrocities with even bigger atrocities is okay.
Last night, thousands of Jews and their allies filled Grand Central Station and the surrounding streets chanting “Ceasefire now!” and “Let Gaza Live!” One protester stood on a ledge above a ticket booth holding a sign that read “Never again for anyone.”
Roughly 300 protesters were arrested in what organizers called an “emergency sit-in.” The event was led by Jewish Voices for Peace. Metro North service was suspended during the protest. One sympathizer told The Indypendent, “No worries, I’ll take the train up to Harlem.”
What was it like to be there? Here is some of our live coverage from last night by The Indy‘s Amba Guerguerian.
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As the demonstration was in full force, Egyptian rapper WEGZ — in town to perform a sold-out show at Terminal 5 — said it was a surreal and emotional experience to walk out of Grand Central into the pro-Palestine protest that had taken over the station. Cairo, where he lives, is only 1000km from Gaza.
The heightened attention to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza wasn’t contained to Grand Central. On the train home to Brooklyn, Guerguerian wrote, “I am hearing people on the train talking about Palestine and on the sidewalk in Flatbush. … The Kazakhstani woman next to me on the subway was looking at photos of the action. It felt powerful that the two of us just talked for like 20 minutes out loud in a train taking up that sound space.”
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