Hundreds Call on Brooklyn Museum to "Divest From Genocide"
Police arrested dozens of protesters in a massive action for Gaza at the museum.
A massive and heavily policed protest against Israel’s war on Gaza at the Brooklyn Museum on Friday, May 31 saw the arrest of 34 demonstrators, according to Democracy Now. Hyperallergic witnessed at least 20 arrests at the action; the New York Police Department (NYPD) has not yet confirmed the numbers.
Approximately 1,000 activists overtook the New York museum, staging a protest in its lobby, waving Palestine flags above its glass pavilion, and unfurling a large banner from its rooftop that read "Free Palestine, Divest From Genocide."
Some protesters also tagged artist Deborah Kass’s yellow “OY/YO” (2015) sculpture outside the museum’s entrance with slogans including “Gaza Will Be Free,” “40,000 people dead,” and “Ur Museum Kills Kids in Palestine.”
The protesters handed out copies of a brochure calling on the Brooklyn Museum to publicly recognize Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and divest from companies and donors with ties to the Israeli military.
"The Museum relies heavily on subsidies from the City of New York, along with the granting of the land it sits on, and so its financial doings should be publicly accountable," Cultural Front, an autonomous collective of artists and cultural workers.
In an email to Hyperallergic, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Museum claimed that damage was caused to "existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza" and that "members of our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed."
"Out of a concern for the building, our collections, and our staff, the decision was made to close the building an hour early and asked the public to vacate peacefully," the spokesperson added.
The rally began at around 4:30pm, when over 100 demonstrators took over the Brooklyn Museum’s lobby with assorted banners and Palestine flags. Hundreds more joined after marching from the Barclays Center sports arena, about a 20-minute walk from the museum.
“Brooklyn Museum you can't hide, divest from genocide,” they chanted.
Around 5:15pm, the museum closed its doors and instructed the protesters to evacuate the building immediately. A chaotic scene ensued with NYPD officers in riot gear storming the lobby to tackle and arrest protesters, among them a leading organizer with the Palestinian youth movement Within Our Lifetime (WOL), while pushing the rest toward the back exit.
Nevertheless, hundreds of protesters continued their chants outside the museum until around 7pm, finally moving their rally away from the museum.
Today’s action follows several protests for Gaza that have taken place at the Brooklyn Museum since last October, as activists and its own staff have continued to call out the institution’s silence on Israel’s escalating hostilities against Palestinians and its aggressive treatment of pro-Palestine demonstrators.
Editor's note 6/3/24 5:45pm EST: This article has been edited to reflect the updated number of arrests. Additionally, a previous version of the story mischaracterized Cultural Front as the group behind an artistic intervention at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in March. The groups are unrelated; the article has been corrected.
