On Monday, dozens of protesters were detained outside the New York offices of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Among those taken into custody was Chelsea Manning, the former US Army soldier and WikiLeaks source.
The New York City Police Department confirmed multiple arrests without providing a figure. Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the antiwar groups that organised the demonstration, put the number at around 90.
The protesters were not subtle about what they wanted. Chants of “stop the bombs,” “end the killings,” “let Gaza live,” “let Iran live,” and “let Lebanon live” carried through the streets. The target of their anger was specific: US arms sales to Israel and the military partnership that has sustained them.
The War’s Toll
That partnership has come under intensifying scrutiny since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own attacks on Israel and Gulf states hosting American bases. The exchange has killed thousands and displaced millions.
The war in Gaza, now in its third year since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023 that killed 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, collapsed food supply systems, and displaced Gaza’s entire population. Scholars and a United Nations inquiry have drawn assessments of genocide. Israel maintains its actions constitute self-defence.
Government Pressure on Dissent
The demonstration unfolded against a backdrop of escalating government pressure on dissent. The Trump administration has moved to deport foreign students involved in protests, threatened to freeze funding for universities where demonstrations occurred, and ordered screening of immigrants’ social media activity.
Courts have blocked several of these efforts, but the message has landed.
New York was the epicentre of pro-Palestinian protest in 2024. The arrests on Monday suggest that energy has not gone anywhere — and that the questions being raised in the streets are ones Washington has yet to seriously answer.
The Question America Keeps Avoiding
The protesters outside Schumer and Gillibrand’s offices were asking a simple question: why do US weapons continue to flow to a war that has killed tens of thousands of civilians?
It is a question that has been asked in congressional hearings, in university classrooms, and in countless opinion pieces. But Washington has yet to offer a satisfactory answer.
For now, the arrests continue. The bombs continue to fall. And the protesters — including a former Army intelligence officer who knows something about leaking uncomfortable truths — continue to show up.
Sources: Reuters
