Anti-Israel protesters unfurled a disturbing “Long live October 7” banner as a group of agitators surrounded and shoved a reporter trying to cover the demonstration at Union Square on Monday.
A few protesters covered in a keffiyeh – traditional Palestinian headwear – waved the banner with the disturbing message celebrating last year’s Hamas attack on Israel, according to footage captured at the scene.
About 1,200 Israelis, including many civilians, were murdered by the terror group and more than 200 were abducted and taken back into Gaza, launching a military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
One reporter attempting to cover the protest at Union Square was harassed and later filed a police report over the treatment.
Olivia Reingold, of The Free Press, took footage of her being encircled by demonstrators who wanted her to leave the area.
“For the last 10 minutes I’ve been surrounded,” she said on camera before a protester cut in and said, “You’re not being surrounded, you’re choosing not to leave.”
Protesters could also be heard saying she wasn’t welcomed and to “get out of here,” though Reingold noted she was on public property as she stood her ground.
Agitators shouted that Reingold had “blood on her hands” and was a “genocide supporter,” The Free Press said in a tweet Monday night.
They also blew air horns in her ears as they restricted her movement, the news outlet reported. At one point, the publication said protesters grabbed her notebook and ripped out some pages.
“The encounter intensified before Reingold was shoved by an unknown assailant, hidden by the various keffiyehs held up to obscure her vision. After nearly an hour, Reingold made her way out of the fray — but only after the protest left the square,” The Free Press wrote.
The rally, branded as a “Citywide day of rage for Gaza,” began at Union Square and made its way to downtown Manhattan where protesters shouted “Long Live the Intifada” and other anti-Israel chants outside the Nova Music Festival Exhibition that memorializes the murder and rape victims at the music celebration turned nightmare.
The shocking act sparked criticism from elected officials across the political spectrum.
“Anti-Israel bigots are protesting the Nova Music Festival Exhibition, which seeks to commemorate the lives of the hundreds of young Jews barbarically murdered by Hamas on October 7th,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, of the Bronx tweeted.
“These bigots deny the massacre at the Nova Music Festival, calling it ‘Zionist propaganda.’ October 7 denial is but a modern mutation in the ancient DNA of antisemitism. The antisemites who deny, downplay, or defend the barbarity of Hamas are revealing themselves to be barbaric.”
