New York Jewish Residents Want Action Against Unpermitted Demonstrations

NEW YORK—The Israeli Embassy in midtown Manhattan is the last place Hillary Barr expected to experience anti-Semitism.

“I was holding an American and Israeli flag, and I was attacked,” Ms. Barr told The Epoch Times, saying the protesters were supporting terrorists. “They are not protesters. They are radical Islamic militants who are here to destroy this country.”

Ms. Barr, 64, is among the New Yorkers who attended a Committee on Public Safety meeting at City Hall on May 1 to request that the New York City Council enforce rules for protests.

Another concerned resident, Jeanne Sprenger, also expressed frustration with city officials.

“Their job is public safety, and we are not safe,” Ms. Sprenger told The Epoch Times. “The Jewish community is not safe, but all New Yorkers are not safe. These are out-of-hand protesters who are violent and destroying property.”

Ms. Sprenger, who founded the activist group TakeBackNYC, began focusing on unpermitted protests after she got caught in one last fall.

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“I couldn’t get home,” she said. “I could not get to Grand Central because the streets were closed off. Where are my rights to be able to walk across the street?”

The New York Police Department (NYPD) approves or disapproves applications to conduct a procession, parade, demonstration, or athletic event within the confines of the five boroughs.

Ms. Sprenger said that during the Public Safety Committee meeting, she was cut off while complaining of incidents of unpermitted protesting.

“They said the topic was wrongful conviction,” she said. “This is wrongful conviction because no one’s being convicted of lawlessness, taking away people’s rights, shutting down bridges and impacting interstate commerce.”

Rally for Law and Order

TakeBackNYC joined another group called EndJewHatred, a Jewish civil rights group, at a press conference outside City Hall on May 1.

Michelle Ahdoot is the director of strategy and programming with EndJewHatred.

“Civil rights are not upheld when this mayhem is going on in our city’s streets and our college campuses terrifying everybody,” Ms. Ahdoot told reporters. “It’s not OK, and we need change here at the city level. We need to be truly ensured that the NYPD’s hands will not be tied behind their back when they need to act.”

NYPD policy and procedure are being guided by an agreement signed in September 2023 to settle several lawsuits against the city. Protesters who participated in the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations sued the city, claiming that police who responded to the protests and riots violated their First Amendment rights.

The city now follows a “red light/green light” policy when policing protests.

“NYPD tied its hands by entering into this settlement agreement since all officers must conform to the NYPD ’red light/green light’ policy as memorialized in this agreement,” Ms. Ahdoot told The Epoch Times.

If a police officer believes that someone at one of these gatherings is committing a “red light” offense, they must get permission from a captain or higher-ranking officer and must establish probable cause before making an arrest.

The leaders of TakeBackNYC and EndJewHatred want the city council to implement harsher penalties for individuals accused and convicted of hate crimes, fewer restrictions on the NYPD so that officers can enforce the law, new legislation in the New York City Administrative Code focusing on anti-Semitism and hate crimes, and the enforcement of demonstration permits and sound devices.

Lack of Action From City Council

Public Safety Committee Chair Yusef Salaam, who was elected to the city council for District Nine last year, did not respond to requests for comment about the demands.

“We asked Chairman Salaam in February for a specific public safety committee hearing on the protests and he agreed, but he has not followed through on that,” Ms. Sprenger said. “Since then, protests at universities have exploded, and we’re not going away. We demand the meeting Chairman Salaam agreed to specifically about protests.”

Chen Levy, 50, a New York resident who owns a jewelry store adjacent to Grand Central Station, said she began to experience harassment by pro-Palestinian protesters after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, during which the terrorist group also took more than 250 Israeli hostages.

In November 2023, Hamas released 105 of the hostages. This week, Israel offered a 40-day truce in exchange for the release of some of the remaining hostages. Hamas has yet to accept or reject the offer.

Ms. Levy noticed that as soon as she posted fliers of the Israeli hostages, they were torn down.

From there it escalated to graffiti and vandalism at her store.

“Then they took it one step further,” Ms. Levy told The Epoch Times. “A big group of Palestinian protesters came. Me and my husband stood outside the store. They surrounded us, ripped the posters, cursed us, and tried to stick me with the flag pole they were holding, and I was terrified.”

Three nearby police officers intervened, but her income was affected when she closed the store to clean up the spray paint that had defaced the storefront.

“I want our elected officials to give the NYPD their power back because right now, their hands are tied,” Ms. Levy said. “I’m a big fan of the NYPD, but they can’t do anything.”

The groups plan to testify at a Public Safety Committee budget hearing on May 9.