Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic Wednesday morning around Los Angeles International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport — two of the busiest in the country — in protests from coast to coast that ended in dozens of arrests.
Arrests of female demonstrators in the US, photo: Reuters
"The protesters threw a police officer to the ground, used construction debris, road signs, tree branches and concrete blocks to block" a road leading to the airport, "while attacking uninvolved bystanders in their vehicles," the police statement said. 36 demonstrators were arrested and brought to the police station, where they continued to riot.
Nationwide, the New York Port Authority's police department said 26 people were arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic during a protest along Van Vick Highway inside JFK Airport in Queens.
Local news coverage of both demonstrations showed demonstrators carrying banners with messages such as "Free Palestine" and "renounce genocide," in contrast to Israel's military operation in Gaza over the past 11 weeks. The protests came as the UN health agency reported thousands of people trying to flee fighting that has raged in the Palestinian coastal enclave since the militant group Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on October 7.
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