200 Pro-Palestinian Protesters Disrupt Oct. 7 Vigil in Union Square, Jeering Mayor Mamdani
Updated
Updated · New York Daily News · Oct 7
200 Pro-Palestinian Protesters Disrupt Oct. 7 Vigil in Union Square, Jeering Mayor Mamdani
3 articles · Updated · New York Daily News · Oct 7
Summary
More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators overran a Union Square vigil for the 1,200 Jews killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, outnumbering roughly 50 mourners and repeatedly drowning out speakers.
Chants of “Normalize the intifada” and accusations of “genocide” targeted Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who arrived about an hour into the event, stood briefly with attendees, then was escorted to his car as protesters tried to swarm it.
Organizers from Israelis for Peace said the gathering was meant to mourn the dead while also condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza; despite the disruption, attendees lit candles and read messages from survivors and victims’ relatives.
NYPD said no violence occurred and no arrests were immediately made at either the Union Square protest or an earlier City Hall demonstration.
The confrontation underscored Mamdani’s political squeeze: Jewish groups accuse him of fueling antisemitism, while some pro-Palestinian critics say he has not gone far enough, even after he called Oct. 7 “profoundly painful” and Gaza a “genocide.”