According to police, seven protesters were arrested as they tried to disrupt the Thanksgiving parade on Thursday morning, November 27.
- Nov 28, 2014
AceShowbiz - Seven demonstrators, who protested against grand jury's decision in Ferguson, were arrested on Thursday morning, November 27 as they tried to disrupt Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan. Some protesters tried to organize a disruption of the annual parade by using the hashtag #Stoptheparade on Twitter.
Around 50 protesters gathered outside the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue before the parade began. The group then walked down Fifth Avenue towards 37th Street, but then attempted to make it into the parade route on Sixth Avenue. A few of them who succeeded to enter the parade route then were pulled and handcuffed by police.
Some bystanders shared videos of the arrest on Instagram. One user named slam_pow posted a video of a man being handcuffed by several police officers along with caption, "Arrests are happening #nojusticenopeace #nyc #stoptheparade #handsupdontshoot #blacklivesmatter."
Another user named jamnopeanut posted two videos of the protest. He wrote alongside one of the videos, "Protestors attacked at #ThanksgivingDayParade #stoptheparade THREE ARRESTS! #handsup #dontshoot #mikebrown."
According to the NYPD, one of the arrested protesters will receive a summons for disorderly conduct, while the other six protesters will be slapped with desk appearance tickets.
One protester named John Nicholas told New York Daily News, "We shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving when there's going to be an empty seat at dinner for the family of Mike Brown. It needs to be known worldwide! So many people come to see the Thanksgiving parade from all over the world, it was important to show them what's going on. It was the perfect place."
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton told Mail Online that police would not let anyone disrupt the parade. "We will not tolerate, under any circumstances, any effort to disrupt this parade," William said, "This is a national event, a historic event. Anybody who would seek to interrupt it would be callous, indeed, on this very special day."
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was supported by some A-list stars including Idina Menzel, Nick Jonas and Meghan Trainor. Idina performed her cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", Nick sang "Jealous", while Meghan performed "Lips Are Movin".
Stoptheparade New York City Protest:
88th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: