At least 9,000 pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the Brooklyn Bridge during a march through the borough Saturday, openly cheering Hamas terrorists’ barbaric attacks on Israel — and justifying the murders of innocent mothers and babies.
“Freedom by any means, land back by any means,” declared Dorian, a 24-year-old protester from Queens, during the three-mile Flood Brooklyn for Gaza march, which began 3 p.m. in front of the Brooklyn Museum in Crown Heights, not far from the Hasidic Lubavitcher headquarters on Eastern Parkway, where a Sabbath festival was being held.
“I believe the settler state of Israel must be taken down,” he said.
The demonstrators — holding signs with antisemitic slogans such as “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free,” and “F—k Israel, Justice Palestine” — headed north along Flatbush Avenue to the Barclays Center, and then converged on the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping traffic on the Manhattan-bound side around 6 p.m. as some scaled metal barriers and triumphantly waved Palestinian flags.
Cops shut down traffic on the Brooklyn-bound side as a precautionary measure.
Earlier, Marie Edward, 67, of Sunset Park, held a sign reading “Zionism is terrorism” while watching others march along Eastern Parkway.
She accused Israelis of being the real “killers” and defended Hamas’ heinous Oct. 7 massacre.
“It’s not a question of ‘justified.’ If you are occupied, you fight back and do what they did…they will fight back,” she said.
Those who dared defend Israel were vilified.
One counter-protesters carrying an American and Israeli flag shouted, “I stand with life, peace and love.” He was then called a terrorist” by marchers, some of whom even slapped stickers reading “Zionism is terrorism” on his back as he yelled “get the F—out of here!”
Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel
A flier posted to Instagram touting the protest by organizer Within Our Lifetimes warned, “The more they try and silence us, the louder we will be.”
As of 6 p.m., there were no reported arrests as the NYPD swarmed the route with roughly 1,800 officers and were using drones for crowd control. Two NYPD helicopters also buzzed along the Brooklyn Bridge.
Protestors, however, mocked cops, drawing “F—k NYPD” on the dusty windows of parked buses.
Before the rally, former City Councilman David Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat who now heads the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, lashed out at the protests’ sponsors for choosing to hold an anti-Israel protest on Shabbat in Crown Heights, which has a sizable population of Hasidic Jews.
“It’s not an accident that pro-Hamas activists would pick this place to protest Jews,” he said.
Orthodox Rabbi Motti Seligson, 41, of Crown Heights, noted the march was scheduled the same weekend as an annual gathering where more than 1,000 Hasidic college students from around the world flock the neighborhood.
“We’re seeing forces of evil that are promoting murder genocide of Israelis and civilians in Gaza because of the support for the terrorist elements that are in their midst,” he said.
The protest took place a week after roughly 5,000 pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets during a raucous rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where demonstrators called for the eradication of Israel and held antisemitic signs — including one with a picture of the Israeli flag in a trash basket that read “Please keep the world clean!” Many clashed with cops and 19 were arrested.
A day earlier, Brooklyn state Sen. Jabari Brisport and City Council Member Shahana Hanif were among the 100 anti-Israel protesters busted by the NYPD at a pro-Palestinian rally in Midtown.
Participants of the “Cease Fire Now Rally for Gaza” stormed Bryant Park and blocked traffic.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore.