
“Police arrest 22 for anti-Israel demo backed by pro-Hamas group at Brooklyn Museum,” Times of Israel, June 1 2024 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Pro-Palestinian protesters took over parts of the museum on Friday, hanging a banner above the main entrance, occupying much of the lobby and scuffling with police, witnesses said.
New York City police officers tackled and punched 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.
The art museum in the New York City borough of Brooklyn said it closed an hour early due to the disruption.
One of the arrests was of a man who spray-painted an outdoor sculpture, Reuters witnessed. Skirmishes between police and protesters also took place inside the building.
“There was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza,” a museum spokesperson said in an email. “Protesters entered the building, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed….
Security guards prevented many from entering, with videos posted on social media showing them trying to secure the museum’s doors against the surging crowd, but some demonstrators managed to get inside.
A banner was hung from atop the neoclassical facade proclaiming, “Free Palestine, Divest From Genocide,” while the protesters also set up tents in the lobby.
A pro-Palestinian organization named Within Our Lifetime urged demonstrators to “flood Brooklyn Museum for Gaza,” alluding to the name that Hamas gave to its October 7 terror onslaught that started the war in Gaza. Within Our Lifetime, which praised the Hamas-led attack in the immediate aftermath of the atrocities, says activists occupied the museum to compel it to disclose any Israeli-related investments and to divest any such funding….