NYPD arrested more than 100 people, including local elected officials, outside the United Nations on Thursday as protesters blocked streets ahead of Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the General Assembly, according to police.

￭ City Councilman Chi Ossé, congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier, City Councilwoman Alexa Avilés, and actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were among those zip-tied and taken into custody. The action was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, with roughly 250 protesters sitting in the street at First Avenue and East 39th Street.

￭ Mamdani-endorsed Chevalier, who is virtually guaranteed to win her deep-blue district in November, said: “As the Democratic Nominee for New York's 13th Congressional District, I refuse to allow a war criminal to roam the streets of our city unchallenged.” Ossé told PIX11: “I'm here because I'm sick and tired of my taxpayer dollars going towards the act of genocide and the murder of Palestinian children.”

￭ Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not attend the protests. He spent the day with the prime minister of the Netherlands at an LGBTQ center. Mamdani campaigned on promising to have Netanyahu arrested if he entered New York, but acknowledged in July that the city lacks "independent legal authority" to enforce the ICC warrant.

￭ On Monday, Mamdani told CNN he still believes Netanyahu should be arrested, calling him “a war criminal and an architect of a horrific genocide of the Palestinian people.” But he said he would not join protests, stating: “I have never encouraged them to protest. What I have always told them is that they have the right to do so in the city.”

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