Hezbollah and Hamas flags waved during pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York

The flags of Hamas and Hezbollah were waved among the crowd of demonstrators during a march in New York City on Monday, reported the American right-wing media Freedom New TV (FNTV) and according to several videos of the rally published by the organizers on the social networks.

The pro-Palestinian organization Within Our Lifetime (WOL) organized demonstrations this Monday, June 10, in front of cultural institutions in New York City, saying they were "committed against the genocide," as part of a "day of anger for Gaza.” The group had called on the X platform to “carry out autonomous actions all day” in response to the “ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

According to CNN, before marching to Wall Street, where the NOVA exhibition was held in tribute to the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks during the music festival in Israel, the demonstrators gathered in Union Square. “It was quite surreal that this protest was happening outside of an exhibit commemorating hundreds of lives lost,” exhibit spokesperson Michelle Rojas told the station on Monday.

The demonstrators, mostly dressed in kuffiyehs and carrying Palestinian flags, invaded the New York subway to go to Wall Street, FNTV reports. Dozens of police officers provided security in the crowded carriages. On-site, the WOL leader called the NOVA exhibit “Zionist propaganda,” while hundreds of demonstrators chanted slogans and waved weapons in the face of pro-Israel counter-protesters. According to the WOL video, the flags of Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were prominently displayed during the demonstration, and some activists wore a Hamas headband. The city's mayor, Eric Adams, called the demonstration "pure anti-Semitism." "Any New Yorker who advocates for peace cannot stand next to those who wave Hamas and Hezbollah flags, especially during an exhibition commemorating the victims of the Nova Music Festival massacre," he added in a message published on the X network.

The demonstration took a violent turn when activists threw down barricades and clashed with police. Several protesters were taken into custody and 23 were released with summons to appear in criminal court, according to the New York City Police Department. It is not clear how many demonstrators were arrested, concludes CNN.

The White House condemned the protest outside the New York exhibit, calling it "scandalous and heartbreaking." "Secular banners of terrorist organizations should not be flown anywhere, especially not on American streets. Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement, according to CNN.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.