NYPD preparing for protests at Rockefeller Center tree lighting

Police are preparing for protests reportedly planned during the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting Wednesday evening, officials told Gothamist on Tuesday.

An Instagram post by the account wolpalestine – for the pro-Palestinian community organization Within Our Lifetime – calls for people to “flood the tree lighting for Gaza'' starting with a rally at 6 p.m., one hour before the event is scheduled to begin. The NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau will be responding to the protest, deploying a “wide array of resources to protect the city based on events unfolding here and around the world,” according to an NYPD spokesperson.

The NYPD spokesperson said the department remains prepared to respond to the ongoing war protests.

“We do anticipate that there will be protests in the city on Wednesday — to include around the area of the tree lighting — and at future gatherings around the city in the days and weeks to come, as we have seen over the past seven weeks,” the NYPD spokesperson said. “The NYPD will be on hand to protect the tree lighting and all those attending, and we will not tolerate disruption or any threats to public safety.”

This year, the tree lighting ceremony falls on the same day as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the caption of the Instagram post calling for the mobilization says. The observance was established by the United Nations in 1977, 30 years after the General Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine.

The department similarly prepared for protests ahead of the Thanksgiving Day Parade last week in relation to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. On the day of the event, roughly 30 demonstrators interrupted the route and unfurled a sign that read “Liberation for Palestine and planet.”

Several were taken into custody and the parade route wasn’t affected, the NYPD said.