AGAINST HATE NEW YORK PROTEST
V PROTESTERS CROWDED across New York’s Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday to demonstrate against rising incidents of antisemitism and hate in the area.
The march — entitled “No Hate, No Fear” — was organised by the city’s Jewish community following a spate of antisemitic incidents, including a knife attack on the penultimate night of Chanukah last month.
Many participants sang Hebrew songs as they waited for their turn to walk across from Lower Manhattan.
The American Jewish Committee estimated more than 25,000 people attended. New York mayor Bill de Blasio and state governor Andrew Cuomo were among those taking part.
“Discrimination, racism, antisemitism is repugnant to every value that New Yorkers hold dear, and repugnant to every value that this country represents,” Mr Cuomo said.
The governor has made $45 million (£34.3 million) in funding available to religious organisations to help improve their security measures.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who was also on the march, said he was proposing to increase federal funding to protect houses of worship.
“It is wonderful that we are doing this and sad that we still have to do it,” Manhattan resident Claudia Stoller, 31, told AP. “But it was never lost on me that the Jewish community could always be targeted and should always be ready to be strong.”
Five people were wounded in last month’s stabbing in Monsey, a town northwest of New York City that is home to a large Charedi population.
The suspect, Grafton Thomas, has been charged with six counts of attempted murder and hate crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
The relatives of the person most seriously injured in the attack said last week that he remains in a coma and is unlikely to awaken.