Protests blanket NYC on first anniversary of Oct. 7 terror attack

Thousands of anti-Israel protesters flooded Manhattan’s streets Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attack — creating havoc and keeping the NYPD high alert.

The largely anti-Israel mobs amassed end to end — from Columbia University to Wall Street — with the expected unrest telegraphed early with antisemitic vandals striking at an uptown CUNY campus, smashing windows on a building and scrawling an anti-Israel message in red paint across it.

The NYPD said dozens of gatherings were expected to mark the solemn anniversary, but two were of particular concern — at Times Square late Monday afternoon and another in Central Park in the early evening.

“We will protect everything, whether it’s protesters, New York City people just going about their business and everyone in between,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said at a Battery Park briefing.

“When it crosses over into crime, we will be as professional as we can,” Chell said. “We’ll do what we have to do, and we’ll keep the day flowing.”

By early afternoon hundreds of anti-Israeli demonstrators gathered in front of the Low Memorial Library at Columbia University, chasing away pro-Israel protesters who had gathered earlier.

“Mobilize the antifada!” the largely peaceful crowd chanted. “Palestine will be free!” “Break the chains and watch them fall!” and “Israel go to hell!”

Earlier in the day, a pro-Israel crowd had greatly outnumbered the handful of counter-protesters.

Shortly after noon, another anti-Israel group began to gather outside the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, even as cops began erecting barricades at Washington Square Park in anticipation of a scheduled massive protest by the anti-Israel group, “Within Our Lifetime.”

Another anti-Israeli mob gathered outside City Hall shortly before 3 p.m., with hundreds of demonstrators waving flags and calling for an end to the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Around the same time, a crowd of as many as 75 formed outside the New York University campus in Lower Manhattan, with both pro- and anti-Israel protesters gathering at the scene.

“We want the open, we want the openness, and we want the dialog,” said one NYU freshman. “It’s what America’s for. It’s terrible that this is what we have to do, which is terrible that Jewish, specifically Jewish students have to face this and on a daily basis.

“I was contemplating whether or not to wear my yellow pin today,” the student said, referring to the symbol in support of the Jewish hostages still held by Palestinian Hamas terrorists. “It was an inner battle I had prepared in time. I decided to do it because … I should.”

The unrest had started early — vandals shattered windows at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center in Upper Manhattan, scrawling “Divest now” on the building around 1 a.m. before fleeing.

The Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli counter-offensive in the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip ignited widespread antisemitic demonstration throughout the US over the past year, with those in the five boroughs among the most prominent.

Monday’s resurgent unrest frustrated Jewish residents and pols, who said they sought to mourn the dead and missing from the horrific sneak attack one year earlier.

“We should be given space to mourn, commemorate those who were massacred,” said city Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx).

US Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) took to X to reflect on the anniversary.

“We all lost a part of ourselves on October 7,” he wrote. “But as we take this time to mourn and reflect on that tragic day, I want to remember the members of our Hudson Valley community who paid the ultimate price.”

Additional reporting by Joe Marino, Aneeta Bhole, Larry Celona, Caroline McCarthy, Kaydi Pelletier, Hannah Fierik, Vaughen Golden and Elizabeth Karpen