Police Arrest Protesters Near UN During Netanyahu Address

Police arrested protesters who blocked a Manhattan intersection near the United Nations on Thursday during a planned act of civil disobedience timed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly. The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, drew local officials, a congressional candidate and entertainers; organizers told reporters at least 100 people were detained, though an official total was not provided in the accounts reviewed. The protesters sat in the roadway near First Avenue and East 39th Street, where they chanted against Netanyahu and Israel’s war in Gaza. Police warned demonstrators to leave or face arrest, then moved in and took people into custody. Video showed detainees being loaded into a police van. Accounts described the arrests as expected by participants, who had gathered for a planned protest action. Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, was among those arrested. Bloomberg reported, citing the New York Police Department, that she was charged with disorderly conduct.