34 taken into custody after pro-Palestinian protest at Brooklyn Museum, artwork damage reported
NEW YORK — New York City police said Saturday that they took 34 people in custody following a pro-Palestinian protest at the Brooklyn Museum, which reported damage to some artwork and harassment of security staff by demonstrators.
Hundreds of protesters marched to the museum Friday afternoon, set up tents in the lobby and unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner from the building’s roof before police moved in to make arrests.
New York City police officers tackled and punched some protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers and shouted insults.
Other protesters held banners, waved Palestinian flags and chanted boisterously on the steps of the grand, Beaux Arts museum, which is the city’s second largest.
City police said of the 34 people detained, six were arrested and charged with crimes ranging from trespassing to assault.
Another 23 were released after receiving tickets or summonses for misdemeanors including trespassing, making graffiti, damaging property and resisting arrest. Police did not say what happened to the remaining five people.
Museum spokesperson Taylor Maatman said in a statement that the museum closed an hour early because of concerns about people’s safety and the art collections.
“Unfortunately, there was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed,” Maatman said.
In other developments:
— Dozens of students protesting the war in Gaza walked out of the University of Chicago’s commencement Saturday as the school withheld the diplomas of four seniors over their involvement with a pro-Palestinian encampment.
— Just weeks after police stormed a student-led occupation at Columbia University, a cohort of protesters set up a new camp on the same lawn Friday during an alumni reunion, calling on college graduates to withhold donations until Columbia divests from Israel.
Security guards stormed the nascent encampment shortly after tents went up, as protesters chanted “Shame, shame.” Students were instructed to sit in the tents, making them harder to remove.
Columbia’s campus remained locked down to the public Friday evening. Barnard and Teachers College students continue to be blocked from the campus without special permission.
— U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., accused Wayne State University officials of targeting pro-Palestinian protesters whose encampment was cleared from campus Thursday. The university board is standing by President Kimberly Andrews Espy.