New York Post

APOLOGISTS FOR TERRORISTS

Blockheads cause chaos but not in Fla.

- By SNEJANA FARBEROV, MEGAN PALIN and JORGE FITZ-GIBBON Jfitz-gibbon@nypost.com

Anti-Israel protesters launched a coordinate­d chaotic attack Monday on some of the busiest US transit hubs, including the Brooklyn Bridge, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

But while the three traffic targets were paralyzed as local cops struggled to contain the upheaval, Floridians crowed that their law enforcemen­t knew how to bring things swiftly under control.

“The Pro-Hamas gang tried to pull off the blockade in Florida, too,’’ an X user wrote. “PD rolled up, issued citations, and cleared them out within 15 minutes. We don’t play those games in the Free State.”

Hundreds of marchers wreaked havoc in lower Manhattan in the afternoon by storming the Brooklyn Bridge and temporaril­y grinding traffic to a halt on its Manhattan-bound side as cops in riot gear fought to contain the unrest.

Some of the marchers burned American flags, according to social media posts.

“We don’t want our tax dollars to fund genocide. There’s a strike happening all across the country today,’’ boasted Nerdeen Kiwanis, an organizer with the Palestinia­n-led group Within Our Lifetime, to ABC-TV.

About ‘tax dollars’

Organizers say the protests were a part of a worldwide economic blockade dubbed A15 and designed to support Palestinia­ns by calling for an arms embargo and an end to US taxpayer funding for Israel. April 15 is tax day in the US.

In San Francisco, protesters unfurled a huge banner across the Golden Gate Bridge that read: “Stop the world for Gaza,” and they halted traffic on the bridge in both directions for hours.

“Protesters are chained to their vehicles on the Golden Gate Bridge,” California Highway Patrol Officer Andrew

Barclay told The Post. “We have already arrested those who were not chained. We’re working to cut the chains away and clear lanes.”

The bridge was reopened again by late afternoon.

At Chicago O’Hare Internatio­nal Airport, one of the nation’s busiest, activists sat in the middle of major artery Interstate 190 with their arms interlocke­d using long tubes to prevent cars from accessing the air hub.

Many of the protesters were seen wearing checkered keffiyeh scarves and brandishin­g signs reading “Free Palestine” and “Stop Genocide.”

The stunt forced many travelers rushing to make their flights departing from Terminal 1 to grab their luggage and head to the airport on foot.

“On this Tax Day, when millions are paying taxes which fund the ongoing

US and Israeli bombardmen­t of Gaza, protestors seek to take dramatic action,” the group Chicago Dissenters wrote in an Instagram post.

“O’Hare Internatio­nal Airport is one of the largest in the country, and there will be NO business as usual while Palestinia­ns suffer at the hands of American funded bombing by Israel.”

Florida clears way

By contrast, in Florida, traffic was stopped by protesters for just 15 minutes on southbound Interstate 275 in downtown Tampa.

In downtown Miami, some protesters were dragged off the street by cops.

“Pro-Hamas protestors tried

blocking roads in Florida today and were dragged to the sidewalk almost immediatel­y. We don’t tolerate road blocking here in Florida,’’ an X user said.

As the “woke’’ crowd crowed about the massive disruption it caused elsewhere, those most affected by their illegal antics — everyday working stiffs — fumed.

“People who block traffic should be arrested,” one person wrote on X.

Another said: “This is why Jesus invented tasers.”

A third person wrote, “There’s no better way to make people dislike you and your cause.”

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton, Jack Morphet and Amanda Woods

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SAN FRANCISCO
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CHICAGO
 ?? ?? UGLY: Organized and synchroniz­ed protests in major US cities snarl traffic, leaving flyers to walk at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, stuck on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and downtown’s Brooklyn Bridge and in Miami, where police dragged protesters off the street.
UGLY: Organized and synchroniz­ed protests in major US cities snarl traffic, leaving flyers to walk at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, stuck on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and downtown’s Brooklyn Bridge and in Miami, where police dragged protesters off the street.

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