Police arrest protesters outside UN during Netanyahu address

New York police arrested protesters outside the United Nations on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly, drawing opposition in the streets and a walkout by dozens of delegates inside the chamber.

Organizers estimated that more than 100 people were arrested at the protest outside UN headquarters, The Guardian reported. Al Jazeera put the number at about 100. The New York Police Department did not immediately confirm a figure, according to The Guardian.

Those detained included actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder, Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier and New York City Council member Chi Ossé. The Guardian also identified actor Debra Winger, whistleblower Chelsea Manning and Council member Tiffany Cabán among those arrested.

The protest, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, drew about 200 people wearing white T-shirts bearing messages including “Fund people not bombs,” “No war” and “Free Palestine,” according to Al Jazeera. The Guardian described the crowd as numbering in the hundreds and said it included Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers, elected officials and candidates.

Protesters sat in the street for more than an hour, blocking traffic and diverting official vehicles headed to the UN, The Guardian reported. After police ordered them to leave, some moved to the sidewalks. Officers surrounded those who remained seated and escorted them to police buses, according to Al Jazeera. The Guardian said the demonstrators did not appear to resist arrest.

“What’s being done to Gaza, the obliteration of an entire society, in our name, with our tax dollars, this is our responsibility to speak out against,” protester Manijeh Moradian, a university professor, told Al Jazeera. She said Netanyahu had no right to use the UN platform to justify Israel’s actions.

Einbinder said ahead of the protest that she felt a moral obligation to join “as a Jew, as an American, and as a human being.” Chevalier told reporters before her arrest that it was important to show opposition to U.S. tax dollars being used to commit what she called war crimes.

Inside the General Assembly, Netanyahu defended Israel’s actions in the Middle East as dozens of delegates walked out during his speech. Outside, demonstrators called for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Other protests took place across the city. Al Jazeera reported that pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered on the steps of the New York Public Library, carrying Palestinian flags and banners. Later Thursday, an estimated few thousand people marched from Bryant Park toward the UN, according to The Guardian. The newspaper also reported that members of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter rallied Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport against shipments of weapons and explosives destined for Israel’s military.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has called Netanyahu a “war criminal,” said earlier in the week that he had no plans to attend the UN protests but that New Yorkers had the right to demonstrate. He has said he lacks the legal authority to order Netanyahu’s arrest and has called on the federal government to do so, The Guardian reported.