A video shows New York Police Department officers forcefully throwing a pro-Gaza protester to the ground and seemingly punching him multiple times.
There are two videos on X that show several officers tackling a protester, grabbing him by the neck, and then hitting him.
Next to him, another officer is observed forcefully pushing a second protester to the ground and using his own weight to keep him down. Then, the officer seems to push the protester’s head down onto the ground.
The officers kept telling the crowd, including the people recording the incidents, to move away.
Peter Hambrecht, a person who records videos, said that one of the people protesting had a head injury and was being taken to a police van by officers.
Just before the fight with the officers, a video shows protesters carrying a banner across the street. It seemed like they were not talking or engaging with the police.
During a protest in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Saturday, demonstrators gathered to mark the 76th anniversary of the Nabka. The Nabka refers to the time when around 700,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes or fled during the Arab-Israeli war shortly after Israel was created.
The mass eviction resulted in a community of six million refugees who now live in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to The Associated Press. About 75% of the population in Gaza are made up of the Nabka refugees and their descendants.
During the protest in Bay Ridge, which was organized by the pro-Palestine advocacy organization Within our Lifetime, officials reported that 40 people were arrested.
The New York American Civil Liberties Union criticized the way the police responded to the protest.
The civil rights advocacy organization stated that the actions taken by the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group in Bay Ridge yesterday were aggressive and violated the rights of New Yorkers to express their opinions. They also expressed concern that these actions could discourage political expression.
Nerdeen Kiswani, who started Within Our Lifetime, said to The New York Times that the police were randomly taking people from the street and sidewalk.
The police used the same amount of physical force on several other protesters on Saturday, as reported by the Times.
Protests happened all over the US, including in the nation’s capital, to remember the Nabka this weekend.
Palestinian officials report that Israel’s attack in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least 35,000 people, including many women and children.
Israel has been accused by the United Nations and other international organizations of causing a famine in Gaza.
Israel, however, disagrees with these accusations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are only reacting to the attacks that occurred on October 7th. During those attacks, Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took over 250 hostages.