Ahead of a planned pro-Palestinian protest at a land sale event at Park East Synagogue Tuesday evening, the Mamdani administration said the NYPD would work to ensure both protestors and those attending the event are safe while also voicing displeasure with the event itself.
The activist group PAL-Awda is organizing the protest, which comes six months after a highly controversial similar event at the same site. Amid widespread criticism the NYPD had allowed protesters to get too close to participants, the event sparked accusations of anti-semitism and led to the City Council passing a bill to create “security perimeters” around houses of worship.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch apologized to the congregation of Manhattan’s historic Park East Synagogue after the November protest.
Tuesday’s protest comes after the Council’s legislation became law in late April, though that legislation, which requires police to come up with a public plan on how they will handle protests, authorizing them to plan to put in place perimeters around houses of worship, will not change the NYPD procedure for this protest. The plan required by the law isn’t due until the summer.
A Mamdani spokesman said the city will work to assure both participants and protesters would be safe.
“Our administration has also been clear that we are committed to ensuring safe entry and exit from any house of worship, and that such access never be in question while all protesters are able to exercise their First Amendment rights,” Sam Raskin, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement.
Raskin’s statement also criticized the event itself. The mayor’s support of Palestine is central to his political identity. In November, he faced backlash for criticizing both the protesters and the synagogue.
“Mayor Mamdani is deeply opposed to the real estate expo this evening that includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank,” “These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.”
Counterprotesters were also expected at the synagogue.