Another unauthorized flag has gone up (and quickly come down) on a New York City bridge. This time, a giant Palestinian flag waved over the south side of the Manhattan Bridge.
Protesters unfurled the flag on Wednesday evening at the same time a planned march was taking place down the East River on the Brooklyn Bridge, according to CBS New York. New York City police wrapped up the flag about 30 minutes later.
The words "boycott, divest, sanction" were written on the flag to rally Palestinian support in the ongoing Israeli conflict.
Several New York City-based activist groups organized the march to "connect the struggle of the Palestinian population to those of oppressed communities through the U.S.," according to a news release. Protesters began their walk at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and ended at One Police Plaza in Manhattan.
Participants combined their Palestinian message with the recent anti-police brutality movement in America. They planned to "cover the Brooklyn Bridge in a 'sea of Palestinian flags' to show NYC's support for Palestine and resistance to Israeli's campaign of aggression, occupation, and ethnic cleansing."
The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip began six weeks ago when Israel started its offensive against Hamas. Negotiations between the two sides with Egypt as a moderator have failed and several ceasefires have fallen apart.
The NYPD will investigate the incident, but not as a security breach like the white flags over the Brooklyn Bridge on July 22, according to CBS New York. Two German artists replaced the American flags atop the bridge's two arches as a tribute to the bridge's German engineer, John Roebling.
Mischa Leinkauf and Matthias Wermke from Berlin took responsibility for the incident in an Aug. 12 interview with The New York Times. They claimed they only wanted to celebrate "the beauty of public space," and their stunt wasn't meant as "an anti-American statement."
