A group of pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted New York City’s annual Thanksgiving’s Day Parade by gluing themselves to the parade route.
Demonstrators ended up diverting Thursday’s procession after several people from a 30-person protest jumped over barriers near West 45th Street and fixed themselves to 6th Avenue around 10am, according to ABC News.
The protesters, who were wearing fake-bloodied jumpsuits with the words “colonialism,” “racism,” “militarism” and “ethnic cleansing” on them, were detained by New York Police Department officers.
During the skirmish, Thanksgiving Day floats, bands and balloons were redirected from 6th Avenue to their final destination at Macy’s in Herald Square.
Video from the scene taken by Newsday reporter Matthew Chayes showed a green dinosaur balloon, sponsored by the Sinclair Oil Corp, floating behind them at the time.
According to WABC-TV in New York City, parade spectators booed the protesters once they were aware of the disruption.
The television station also reported disturbances at West 49th Street and at West 59th Street. Fox 5 New York reported that protesters wearing “Free Palestine” shirts were detained near West 55th Street.
Police presence was high during this year’s Thanksgiving Day parade, which was expected to draw three million people.
Though there were no credible threats ahead of the event, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner told CBS News the department was ready to handle any disruptions that might arise.
“We will not compromise on public safety, absolutely not. Not in this environment, not when there’s so much going on,” Weiner said, pointing to public tension over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
President Joe Biden made a call for unity while he and first lady Jill Biden spoke to NBC’s Al Roker by phone during the parade.
“We have to come together,” he told Roker. “We can have different political views, but we have one view. The one view is we’re the finest, the greatest nation in the world. We should focus on that. And we should focus on dealing with our problems and coming together ... and stop the rancour. We have to bring the nation together.”