Sixteen pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Friday after they barged into News Corps’ Manhattan building – which houses Fox News’s headquarters – and occupied the lobby, chanting, “Free Palestine.”
The disruptive demonstration came just two days after News Corp was highlighted on a disturbing map calling for “direct action” to “globalize intifada.”
🚨 | Pro-Palestine Protesters have been arrested from NYC headquarter.
Hundreds poured into the NewsCorp lobby chanting “Fox News’ lies cover up #genocide!#FoxNews | #ShutItDown4Palestine pic.twitter.com/BojJMMtd7G
— Top Notch Journal (@topnotchjournal) November 17, 2023
“One, two, three, four … occupation no more!” the group chanted outside the Midtown building, while several attendees waved Palestinian flags and signs, video shows.
“Five, six, seven, eight … Israel is a terrorist state!” they continued under the direction of a man shouting into a megaphone.
The movement continued inside the lobby, where protesters sat on the floor surrounded by a group of NYPD officers and News Corp security.
A handful of protesters held a large red sign that read “Fox News’ … covers up genocide,” presumably referring to the coverage of Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have occupied the lobby of News Corp/ Fox News headquarters in New York City.
The protesters hold a sign reading “Fox News’ lies cover up Genocide.”
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) November 17, 2023
Several of the demonstrators were eventually restrained and escorted away, the video shows.
The NYPD later confirmed to The Post that 16 people were arrested, though possible charges were not yet clear.
The People’s Forum, a self-described movement incubator based in New York City, took responsibility for the protest in a media release.
“The disruption was part of a global day of action called ‘Shut It Down for Palestine!’ taking place in hundreds of cities in dozens of countries around the globe,” the statement read, claiming that “hundreds” of demonstrators had descended on the building.
The protest Friday morning comes less than 48 hours after News Corp was labeled on a since-deleted map — along with other Big Apple newsrooms, businesses and landmarks — calling for “direct action” in retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war.
“Each of the locations on this map reflects the location of an office of an enemy of both the Palestinian people and colonized people all over the world,” read the post published Wednesday night by Within Our Lifetime, which calls itself a Palestinian-led community organization.
“May this map serve as a call for every struggle to act in their own interest. As we do so, we uplift one another’s struggles and free Palestine from the river to the sea,” the call to action continued.
The phrase about freeing Palestine “from the river to the sea” is considered by some to be antisemitic, as it implies the eradication of the Jewish state of Israel and its people.
The slogan has also been adopted by the terror group Hamas, which killed 1,200 people in southern Israel during the Oct. 7 sneak attack. The group is believed to be holding around 240 people hostage.
Within Our Lifetime — which has 122,000 followers on Instagram — did not specify what kind of action should be taken, but was condemned for seeming to imply the use of violence.
“As Mayor [Eric] Adams has said repeatedly, hate has no place in our city,” a City Hall spokesperson said of the sickening map.
“We are continually monitoring multiple channels to identify any potential threats to New York City. The NYPD is aware of a social media post urging ‘direct action’ towards several institutions in the city and is deploying resources to protect public safety at these locations.
“But to be clear, threatening businesses and organizations and referring to them as the ‘enemy’ is exactly the kind of hateful rhetoric that seeks to divide New Yorkers, but it won’t work, because we are better than that.”
The controversial post was subsequently deleted.
Meanwhile, protesters on Friday also sat down and chanted outside the doors of BNY Mellon in Tribeca.
“BNY Mellon claims to be committed to socially responsible investment, but invests over $13 million in genocide profiteer Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company,” Without Our Lifetime wrote on Instagram alongside a grainy video of the demonstration.
More than a dozen people were arrested during the protest at the financial institution, the NYPD said. It was still too early for authorities to confirm the number of people arrested in the News Corp building.
Twenty people were arrested during the protest at the financial institution, the NYPD said.
Employees of George Soros no doubt
No more BS! ANY individual who supports Hamas a d that includes Paestine who voted the terrorists in ARE supporters of terrorism! Take them to prison for good, deport them and take away their citizenship and send them to Iran! They want to support that let Iran take care of them! They DO NOT velong in this country citizen or not! As far as I am concerned they are now enemies of this country and all enemies of this country should face capital punishment!
I am getting pretty tired of this bullshit…just saying.
Sure is funny how they arrested the innocent people Jan6th but not hardly any of these people protested against Israel Period boot them out of the Country for what they are doing!