Protests blanket NYC on first anniversary of Oct. 7 terror attack

Thousands of anti-Israel protesters flooded Manhattan’s streets Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct.7 terror attack — creating havoc and keeping the NYPD high alert.The largely anti-Israel mobs amassed end to end — from Columbia University to Wall Street — with the expected unrest telegraphed early with antisemitic vandals striking at an uptown CUNY campus, smashing windows on a building and scrawling an anti-Israel message in red paint across it.

The NYPD said dozens of gatherings were expected to mark the solemn anniversary, but two were of particular concern — at Times Square late Monday afternoon and another in Central Park in the early evening.“We will protect everything, whether it’s protesters, New York City people just going about their business and everyone in between,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a Battery Park briefing.

“When it crosses over into crime, we will be as professional as we can,” Chell said.“We’ll do what we have to do, and we’ll keep the day flowing.”By early afternoon hundreds of anti-Israeli demonstrators gathered in front of the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University, chasing away pro-Israel protesters who had gathered earlier.

“Mobilize the antifada!” the largely peaceful crowd chanted.“Palestine will be free!” “Break the chains and watch them fall!” and “Israel go to hell!”Earlier in the day, a pro-Israel crowd had greatly outnumbered the handful of counter-protesters.Shortly after noon, another anti-Israel group began to gather outside the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, even as cops began erecting barricades at Washington Square Park in anticipation of a scheduled massive protest by the anti-Israel group, “Within Our Lifetime.”Another anti-Israeli mob gathered outside City Hall shortly before 3 p.m., with hundreds of demonstrators waving flags and calling for an end to the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.Around the same time, a crowd of as many as 75 fo...