Pro-Paleostinian protesters against Israel took over parts of the Brooklyn Museum on Friday, hanging a banner above the main entrance, occupying much of the lobby and scuffling with police, witnesses said.
New York City coppers tackled and punched some protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers and shouted insults. Other protesters held banners, waved Paleostinian flags and chanted boisterously on the steps of the grand, Beaux Arts museum, which is the city’s second largest.
Some arrests were made but a New York Police Department spokesperson said it would be hours before officials had an accurate count. The art museum in the New York City borough of Brooklyn said it closed an hour early due to the disruption.
One of the arrests was of a man who spray-painted an outdoor sculpture, Rooters witnessed. Skirmishes between police and protesters also took place inside the building.
"There was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza," a museum spokesperson said in an email. "Protesters entered the building, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed.
"Out of a concern for the building, our collections, and our staff, the decision was made to close the building an hour early," and the public was asked to vacate peacefully, the statement said.
The rally started Friday afternoon across the street from the Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Banging drums and chanting, the hundreds of demonstrators then made their way to the museum about a mile away, when some of them rushed the entrance, according to the Rooters witness.
Security guards prevented many from entering, with videos posted on social media showing them trying to secure the museum’s doors against the surging crowd, but some demonstrators managed to get inside.
A banner was hung from atop the neoclassical facade proclaiming, "Free Paleostine, Divest From Genocide," while the protesters also set up tents in the lobby.
A pro-Paleostinian organization named Within Our Lifetime urged demonstrators to "flood Brooklyn Museum for Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
," alluding to the name that Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...gave to its October 7 terror onslaught that started the war in Gaza. Within Our Lifetime, which praised the Hamas-led attack in the immediate aftermath of the atrocities, says activists occupied the museum to compel it to disclose any Israel-related investments and to divest any such funding.
New York City has seen hundreds of pro-Paleostinian street demonstrations since October 7.
The Brooklyn Museum sits at the edge of Crown Heights, which is home to one of the city’s largest communities of Orthodox Jews.
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