Seven people – including one minor – were busted as pro-Palestinian protesters descended on the streets surrounding the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting, clashing with cops trying to keep the demonstration under control, police said Thursday.
One person was charged with a felony, five people were hit with misdemeanor raps and one juvenile was cuffed as the enormous crowd gathered along Sixth Avenue where hordes of tourists were waiting in line to see the iconic ceremony on Wednesday night.
One protester was seen climbing on top of a pillar bearing the News Corp building’s address, and another was seen carrying a massive sign bearing a swastika that compared the Israel Defense Forces to Nazis.
Additional NYPD units were called in as the crowd – chanting “River to the sea,” waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for the “end to genocide” – began to attack police officers and the rally descended into “complete chaos,” law enforcement sources told The Post.
“They should have shut it down. They lost control of the street. I was shoved, punched, kicked. It’s bulls–t,” one cop caught in the fray said.
NYPD officers repeatedly pushed back the crowds, who shoved back, calling the cops “f–king Nazis.”
The demonstrators also attempted to knock down the barricades cops put up to separate them from the throngs hoping to take in the Big Apple holiday tradition.
Unable to get to the Christmas tree, hundreds of protesters instead swarmed around it outside the News Corp building, which houses The Post and Fox News, and which has already been targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters on at least two occasions.
Police warned earlier this week that “elevated vigilance” was necessary during this year’s ceremony — as pro-Palestinian protesters announced they planned to “flood” the iconic event in support of Gaza.
The organizers of the rally, the group Within Our Lifetime, had noted that the world-renowned celebration also falls on the UN-recognized International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Thousands of tourists forced to share the space with the rambunctious demonstration jeered at the protesters for standing in the way of the wholesome tradition.
Opal Burnett, 33, of St. Louis, Missouri, called the interruption an embarrassment.
“It’s super, super annoying. Just excruciating,” Burnett said.
“Seeing these people in such large numbers, it makes me feel embarrassed to be an American because people are watching this happening from abroad,” she added. “Kudos to the cops for keeping these people under control and for showing restraint, because they deal with a lot of verbal abuse.”