A leftist climate group protesting the Israel–Hamas war briefly disrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, gluing themselves to the route on Thursday.
The annual Manhattan parade, a tradition to mark the start of the holiday season, was briefly disrupted when protesters from the Seven Circles Alliance climbed over the barriers and briefly blocked the procession.
An NYPD spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the demonstrations occurred at around 9.50 a.m. and that several people had been taken into custody on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.
“The parade route was not diverted,” the spokesperson said.
The demonstration had a dual message about the Israel–Hamas war and fossil fuels. The group staging the protest states on its website that it aims to use direct action to “force political and economic system change,” claiming that capitalism and free-market economic systems must be overturned.
“Our objective is to unite labor unions, climate scientists, student bodies, and socialist organizations with the general public to instigate an international general strike to confront the elephant in the room, capitalism,” the group’s website states.
Demonstrators glued themselves to the road, wearing white jumpsuits with the words “colonialism,” “capitalism,” and “ethnic cleansing” handwritten on the front and back.
At the same time, another member of the group poured fake blood over those who had glued themselves to the road as they shouted and chanted “liberation for Palestine and planet.”
This prompted the crowd lining the parade route to drown out their chants with boos, per video footage. The booing continued as police detained the protesters and led them away from the parade route.
In another part of the parade, others chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” while waving Palestinian flags and holding signs.
While calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, some of the demonstrators also chanted, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” per video footage.
In a statement, the group said it disrupted the parade “to bring attention to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.”
In a separate act of protest, a man on a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe float protested by holding up a Palestinian flag during the televised parade.
Groups have protested the Israel-Hamas war in several U.S. cities and college campuses in recent weeks, calling for a ceasefire.
On Wednesday, a ceasefire deal was brokered between Israel and Hamas, the terror group that rules Gaza.
The deal will see a four-day pause in fighting to allow aid into war-torn Gaza and the release of at least 50 women and children who are among the 240 hostages held in Gaza.
In exchange, at least 150 Palestinians jailed in Israel, who are also all women and children, will be released.
Under the deal, Israel has said the pause in fighting would also be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed by Hamas.
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas following the terror group’s surprise attack on Oct. 7, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people in Israel and the capture of around 240 individuals by terrorists, who were taken captive back to Gaza.
Since then, more than 14,000 Gazans have been killed, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, as Israel’s military targets Hamas. The group often positions its terrorists in residential areas, such as schools and hospitals, a move criticized as using Gazans as human shields.
The parade began on Manhattan’s Upper West Side at 8:30 a.m., winding by Central Park and culminating at Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street.
It spanned around 2.5 miles and expected around 3 million on-site spectators for the family-friendly event.
Crowds, both on the streets and watching nationally, enjoyed 25 balloons including Snoopy, SpongeBob, and Leo the Lizard as children perched on parents’ shoulders, cheering along.
