Gaza war protesters arrested at offices of US Senators Schumer and Gillibrand
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More than 100 protesters chanted and banged pots and pans in the lobby of the Third Avenue building where the two senators have office space.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Liam Stack and Nate Schweber
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NEW YORK – Dozens of demonstrators protesting against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip were arrested on Aug 1 at the midtown Manhattan offices of New York senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, days after the lawmakers broke with many of their fellow Democrats by voting against a resolution to halt US arms sales to Israel.
Pressure has mounted on Democratic lawmakers to press Israel to end its military activity in Gaza,
On Aug 1, more than 100 protesters, who were organised by anti-war group Jewish Voice for Peace, chanted and banged pots and pans in the lobby of the Third Avenue building where Mr Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and Ms Gillibrand have office space.
“New Yorkers are heartbroken, America is heartbroken,” said City Council member Alexa Aviles, who protested on Aug 1. “We want an end to the war, we want peace.”
The traditional bipartisan consensus in support of Israel among US lawmakers has collapsed over the course of Israel’s nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, which has killed over 60,000 people, according to Gaza officials. Support for the war has plunged into the single digits among Democratic voters, and on July 30, 27 Democratic senators voted to halt US weapons transfers to Israel in protest against the war and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
On Aug 1, two elected Democrats, New York City Council member Tiffany Caban and New York State Assembly member Claire Valdez, were arrested outside Mr Schumer and Ms Gillibrand’s offices.
Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine since the early months of the war, which began after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,000 people on Oct 7, 2023, but the crisis has exploded since March, when Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian goods into the enclave in a bid to squeeze concessions from Hamas.
Israel later established a new aid distribution system. But the Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 40 hunger-related deaths in July, including 16 children, and at least 111 since the beginning of the war, 81 of them children.
The data could not be independently verified. NYTIMES
