Pro-Palestinian protesters march near the Met Gala
New York Police officers arrested pro-Palestinian protesters near the Met Gala. Hundreds of people chanting slogans and waving Palestinian flags gathered on Madison Avenue and in Central Park.
Amidst heavy police presence, protesters marched along Madison Avenue, a few blocks from the gala venue, carrying Palestinian flags, playing drums, and chanting ‘Free, free Palestine!’
Videos and photographs from the scene also showed protesters walking through Central Park and being arrested by police officers, as well as filling the street and disrupting traffic near Park Avenue.
According to The New York Post, over a thousand protesters were detained on East 79th St Transverse in Central Park by a double line of police officers in riot gear.
In recent years, protesters have often used this glamorous event, where celebrities don extravagant, surreal dresses to raise funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as a platform for social causes.
In previous years, nine Black Lives Matter protesters were arrested outside the event while demanding officials defund and abolish the New York Police Department and dismantle police barricades.