A car crashes half a dozen participants in a protest in New York

Police and emergency services, at the scene of the incident, in Murray Hill (New York), this Friday.Michael M. Santiago / AFP

The traffic congestion of a lively Christmas shopping afternoon melted this Friday in Manhattan with an emergency that fortunately seems to have come to nothing.

A motorist behind the wheel of a blue BMW sedan has rammed at least half a dozen pedestrians participating in a protest in eastern Manhattan, causing injuries but no fatalities, police reported.

The incident occurred after four in the afternoon, local time, in the Murray Hill area, not far from the United Nations headquarters.

Local media and police initially reported that it was a protest by the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality, but it turned out to be, according to a Reuters agency photographer present at the scene, a rally against the detention of nine undocumented immigrants who have started a hunger strike in a New Jersey jail, where they are in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“An unknown number of people have been injured.

They have been transferred to several hospitals, but it is not feared that any of the injuries is life threatening, "explained a spokesman for the city's Police Department, noting that it was" too early to know "whether it was an intentional act or an accident.

"The driver remained at the scene," in custody, the source added.

According to the NBC network, 40 to 50 people participated in the protest, of which six suffered injuries after the passage of the vehicle, in which two women, the driver and a co-pilot, both white, were traveling.

Some witnesses claimed to have seen how several bodies were thrown after being hit by the car, but this has not been confirmed.

Others describe a moment of chaos, with the group of protesters surrounding the car and preventing it from moving forward, and is accelerating and dragging people and several bicycles.

The different versions could not be confirmed.

“As far as I know, they beat at least six of our non-violent protesters,” a protest participant told NBC, who ran away from the scene.

"I heard people yelling, I looked behind me and I saw a woman [at the wheel of the car] pushing her way," he explained.

“When I looked again, I saw the car speed up as people tried to run.

Some people helped others, injured, on the sidewalk ”.

“Please avoid the area of ​​3rd Avenue and 39th Street in Manhattan due to a vehicular collision involving multiple pedestrians.

The information at this time is preliminary, there will be updates, "reported the New York Police Department on its Twitter account.

After four in the afternoon, the sound of the sirens of ambulances and emergency vehicles prevailed in Midtown, on a truly spring evening and with the shopping center packed with the public, who continued to busy themselves with Christmas shopping as if it had not happened. nothing, in the heart of a city used to major shocks.