Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched across Manhattan on Monday in support of a ceasefire and Palestinian statehood. As the protests reached Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a hospital that houses a pediatric cancer ward, protesters began targeting the building with cries of “shame on you.”
The event was named as “Flood Manhattan for Gaza MLK Day march for healthcare” and organized by Within Our Lives Palestine, according to the National Review.
Footage circulating online shows an organizer announcing with a bullhorn “Make sure they hear you. They’re in the window.”
In the clip, a child wearing a mask and several people can be seen looking out at the protest.
Other protesters chanted “MSK shame on you, you support genocide, too.”Not a good look as pro-Palestinian protestors target a cancer hospital on New York’s Upper East Side. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center also houses a paediatric day hospital…“Make sure they hear you, they’re in the windows”. pic.twitter.com/qKC7ma1v52
— Danny Morris (@DannyMMorris) January 15, 2024
Mt. Sinai Medical Center had also been targeted, according to media reports, as protesters accused it of “supporting Zionism” and “genocide.” The Post added that police were forced to guard multiple entrances of the hospital.
“What about refusing to acknowledge an attack on Palestinian people, and especially the healthcare system, shows any form of compassion or respect for health?” one speaker said, according to National Review.
The Post reported that 4 people were arrested during the protest, which later chanted outside a McDonalds and Starbucks.
It was also reported that members of the pro-Palestinian group cheered at the news Iran had launched a ballistic missile attack near the US Consulate in Iraq.
Reactions to the protest
Speaking to the Post, a 74-year-old woman said she was “terrified” and police had to escort her and her dog away from the crowd.
“I thought I was in Germany in 1939,” the anonymous woman said. “I’m astounded. I think it’s horrific.”
Support for terrorism, Hamas and October 7
Signs held at the protest exonerated Hamas for the October 7 terror attack, which took the lives of 1200 people including American citizens, and claimed it was an act of “liberation,” according to the National Review.
Some of the signs read “Honor the martyrs of Palestine,” the source reported.
It was also reported that the organization behind the march had said it defends the “right of Palestinians as colonized people to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary” and reemphasized on October 7 its emphatic support for Palestinian liberation. Additionally, the group allegedly handed out maps identifying the locations of Jewish-owned businesses.
The Post published that members of the pro-Palestinian group cheered at the news Iran had launched a ballistic missile attack near the US Consulate in Iraq.