Police Atrocities In New York Against Palestinian Pro Demonstrators

Police Violence Atmosphere In New York Against Palestinian Pro Demonstrators (AlJazeera)

JAKARTA - Police have beaten and arrested several demonstrators at pro-Palestinian protests in Brooklyn, New York. The demonstrators experienced acts of violence against the war in Gaza, which is supported by the United States.

Protesters gathered on Saturday in the Bay Ridge neighborhood in southwest Brooklyn, home to a large Muslim community, including Palestinians and Yemeni.

Peaceful protests to commemorate Nakba's ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 lasted for several hours amid a large number of police presences, and officers tried to prevent protests.

Protesters began lined up on the street and shortly thereafter, the New York Police Department came from the side of the road and started arresting people randomly, Katie Smith, a freelance journalist who was at the scene, told Al Jazeera quoted by VOI, Sunday, May 19.

They were thrown on the ground and often detained by several officers, who beat them, punched their upper body and head. There were several waves of arrests during the demonstration, which went peaceful.

Smith said the response from the local community was "angry", especially as Bay Ridge had witnessed pro-Palestinian demonstrations for more than a decade, but police had never provided such brutal responses.

Local sources said at least a dozen arrests were made on Saturday from several hundred crowds. Videos from the scene showed police dragging protesters away as people shouted for them to stop, and a line of handcuffed protesters were seen being put into a van.

Badminton has made hundreds of arrests in protests demanding an end to the war in Gaza, including during a massive raid on Columbia University campus in early May.