Thanksgiving Day Parade Recap

Riley Peru, Staff Writer

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been an American tradition for ninety-seven years. It takes place in New York City and typically runs for around two hours. One moment in particular that was different this year was the protest that took place ninety minutes into the parade. On 6th Avenue around West 45^th Street, a group of Pro-Palestinian protesters jumped over police barricades and proceeded to glue themselves to the street in protest. The group rushed into the parade about an hour and thirty minutes into the event, causing the parade to stop. The Pro-Palestinian Protest resulted in thirty-four arrests, and charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The protestors had refused to leave the scene unless police brought them into custody.  

One thing that stood out during the protest were the protestors’ attire. The group were dressed in white and had different words written on their clothes. ABC 7 reports that the words they were displaying were “colonialism” and “consumerism”. The protestors also poured fake blood on themselves which was left on the streets once police removed them from the scene. The protestors were also photographed with a banner which read “Genocide Then, Genocide Now” in the middle with other phrases like “Free Palestine” and “Land Back”. 

ABC News reports the protestors yelling “No more nickels, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes” and “Free Palestine”. It was also reported that the protestors said “Viva viva Palestina” as they were being removed by the police. This was not the only complaint of the protestors during the parade. There were numerous calls from bystanders about small disruptions from different locations along 6th Avenue. Although this was the case, police have said that “there was no significant disruption to the parade”. The parade then proceeded around the police work and tried their best to remove the fake blood from the streets.  

After the protestors were removed from the scene, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were called to the NBC Networks live stream of the event to discuss the protest. “We have to come together. You know, we can have different political views, but we have one view. And the one view is that we are the finest, the greatest nation in the world. We should focus on that. We should focus on dealing with our problems and being together,” the President said to NBC.  

Palestine and Israel have been in constant battle, including mass air strikes and hostage situations, since October. The situation has resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives lost including women and children. This conflict has been going on for a total of fifty-seven days as of Sunday, Dec. 3. Not seeing an end in sight to the war, Americans have taken it upon themselves to pursue U.S. involvement, resulting in this parade’s protest.