Two Protesters Arrested in New York Following Incident Amid Gaza Demonstrations

A 57-year-old man has been charged with assault after allegedly driving his car into a Gaza protester on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday morning. Reuven Kahane reportedly became involved in a verbal dispute with a group of demonstrators around 9am before striking 55-year-old Maryellen Novak with his vehicle.

Following the incident, Novak was transported to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was treated for minor injuries. Despite being injured, she was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief and unlawful assembly. Another protester, 63-year-old John Rozendaal, was also arrested, facing charges of criminal mischief. Kahane, who has been charged with second-degree assault, is scheduled to face arraignment on Wednesday. He was released without bail.

The protest, which involved around 25 individuals, was staged near 755 Park Avenue to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza. Police reported that the group was dispersing when the argument escalated between Kahane and two protesters.

Representatives for Kahane, attorneys Sara Shulevitz and Mindy Meyer, asserted that the situation was more complex and expressed confidence that their client would be cleared of all charges.

However, members of the protest group, including students from Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest movement, strongly disputed the police’s version of events. They claimed Kahane approached the group, asked for a flyer, and later grabbed a demonstrator’s arm before driving back around the block to deliberately collide with the protesters as they were leaving.

The protestors highlighted that Novak was the second member of their group to be assaulted in recent days, and the fourth to require hospitalisation since the start of their demonstrations. Rozendaal, who described himself as a “de-escalator” for the protest, stated that he was working to ensure safety during the demonstration but felt that the situation had escalated into an unsafe environment due to the hostility of some individuals.

The incident comes amid increased tensions surrounding Gaza protests in New York, particularly following the ongoing demonstrations at universities such as Columbia, where students have been camped out to protest Israel’s actions. New York City police recently arrested 45 protesters at the Fashion Institute of Technology during another demonstration related to the Gaza conflict.