A socialist congressional nominee backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was arrested after joining protesters who blocked a Manhattan street outside the United Nations. Darializa Avila Chevalier stayed at the anti-Netanyahu sit-in as police moved to clear the roadway Thursday. Her campaign promptly described the arrest as the result of “peacefully protesting.” The account from the scene was more specific: officers arrested activists who refused to move out of the street.
The September 24th protest took place at First Avenue and 39th Street, blocks from where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly. Jewish Voice for Peace organized the sit-in to oppose his visit and U.S. military aid to Israel. Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District, joined elected officials, candidates and activists in the roadway. Traffic was stopped for more than an hour.
The demonstrators chose a sit-in that would bring them into conflict with police orders to clear the road. Avila Chevalier knew arrest was possible. Before officers moved in, she told a television reporter she didn’t intend to leave if instructed to disperse, seemingly being purposeful about being arrested. The arrest followed the confrontation she had publicly anticipated.
Fox News reported that the candidate’s campaign announced her arrest on social media Thursday afternoon. “Darializa was just arrested while peacefully protesting Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations,” the account posted. It went on to accuse the U.S. government of funding Israel while failing to feed and house Americans. The post called for an end to U.S. arms shipments to Israel.
Roughly 250 protesters sat at the intersection, according to City & State New York, which reported from the scene. About 100 NYPD officers surrounded the group. Police began making arrests roughly an hour into the protest, taking into custody people who remained in the street, including Avila Chevalier and City Council members Chi Ossé and Alexa Avilés. The outlet said the arrests proceeded without issue.
In an interview posted by a PIX11 reporter before her arrest, Avila Chevalier said she would remain if police ordered the crowd to disperse and acknowledged that she would likely be arrested. That warning gave voters a clearer picture of the choice than the campaign’s later announcement did. Avila Chevalier also defended the protest in a statement, saying she refused to let Netanyahu visit New York “unchallenged.”
Avila Chevalier’s arrest brings fresh attention to the political alliance behind her campaign. She defeated five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in June’s Democratic primary after receiving Mamdani’s endorsement and support from the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Fox previously reported that she said she helped launch Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. That group later drew scrutiny over social media posts including “Death to America” and a call for the “eradication of Western civilization”; Fox did not attribute those posts to Avila Chevalier.
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A video posted by Shannon Ryan is captioned as showing Avila Chevalier, Ossé and comedian Caleb Hearon being arrested. City & State published a separate photograph of Avila Chevalier being led away in handcuffs. Her campaign also shared photos of the arrest that appeared in Fox’s report. Fox reported that actress Susan Sarandon was among those detained during the protest.
Watch the arrests here:
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Netanyahu went on to address the General Assembly and singled out Mamdani during his speech. He accused the mayor of repeatedly making false claims about Israel and trying to prevent his visit. Mamdani responded with another denunciation of Netanyahu and cited the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him. Netanyahu closed his remarks to the mayor with a terse line: “You can’t silence the truth.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.