New York – New York City detectives were searching on Thursday for activists suspected of unfurling a massive Palestine flag over the side of an East River bridge during a march in support of Palestinians in Gaza, police said.
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The flag, draped over the south side of the Manhattan Bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn, appeared during a Wednesday evening march organized by Palestine solidarity groups, a spokeswoman for the New York Police Department said.
Online photos of the banner show the phrase “Gaza in our hearts” and the words “boycott, divest, sanction” written in large letters on its black, white, green and red panels.
The flag was a show of support for the Palestinian cause as a six-week offensive by the Israeli military to stop rocket attacks launched into its territory from Gaza resumed after a 10-day cease-fire.
After flapping above the East River for about 20 minutes on Wednesday evening, the flag, about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, was removed by police.
An investigation of the incident is ongoing and no arrests have been made, police said.
A recent posting on the “March for Palestine Facebook Page” discussed plans for the flag raising.
“On August 20th, NYC’s diverse communities will march together over the Brooklyn Bridge and cover it with a sea of Palestinian flags,” the posting said.
Anne Pruden, a spokeswoman for the International Action Center, one of the activist groups participating in the march, said she did not know who was responsible for the flag.
“We saw it from afar,” Pruden said. “It was a beautiful surprise.”
Other groups involved in the march could not be reached immediately for comment.
Police said they doubt the Palestinian flag was connected to an incident last month, when two bleached white American flags mysteriously appeared atop the Brooklyn Bridge, just south of the Manhattan Bridge.
That investigation is also ongoing and no arrests have been made, police said.
That’s New York’s finest (and laziest) doing a great job again. First, the Brooklyn Bridge and now the Manhattan Bridge right under their noses. Maybe the officers who are assigned to secure these bridges should put down their doughnuts, coffee and newspapers and actually do their job!
The police are searching for activists “suspected” of unfurling the flag??
Unless what we saw was a mirage then they are not simply “suspected” of hanging the flag, they actually hung it.
Ether poor choice of words or political correctness gone amok once again.
absolutely remarkable that this can even happen. nyc has become a playground for this type of behavior and we are a laughing stock to other states
Is it a ‘beautiful surprise’ to break the law and illegally put a flag up on public property? You don’t have these sort of things by Pro Israel marches. We follow the law. But it’s understandable coming from a march that supports Hamas, a terrorist group.
I actually have a neighbor on hewes st. Who erected a Palestinian flag in front of his house, it’s pretty scary, I pray to hashem, that shouldn’t join Isis or Hamas.
not a good sign of things to come
cops are a bunch of loooooosers,
they are idling on the 3 east river crossings for years now, last time in middle of the night a big flag goes up on the Brooklyn B. now in middle of the day on the Manhattan B.
if i was the PC? i would be ashamed to show my face now
So much for security at the ports of N.Y.C.
why is this not being handled? put up cameras, relieve the police car every 4 hours if an 8 hour shift seems to put them to sleep.
we need to be sure….remember 9-11