A pro-Palestinian group is set to stage a “louder’’-than-ever march in front of the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday — just down the road from the Jewish Hasidic Lubavitcher headquarters.
Jittery NYPD cops are increasing their presence in the area, while a furious Jewish leader raged, “We will not be intimidated.”
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.
“From across the city and around the world, across communities and national liberation struggles, united in defense of Gaza and all of Palestine, until liberation and return within our lifetime,” the posting said.
The protest will come days after 19 people were arrested at a raucous gathering in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and a New York City Council member and state senator were among more than 100 protesters busted at a pro-Palestinian rally sponsored by the Democratic Socialists of America in Manhattan.
Saturday’s rally is set to begin at 3 p.m. on Eastern Parkway, where protesters are encouraged to bring “flags, signs, [and] keffiyehs,” or typical Palestinian headscarf.
The museum is located in Crown Heights next to Park Slope and has a large Hasidic Jewish community, with many businesses, schools and synagogues located just blocks away from the scheduled protest.
Local Jewish businesses are “very concerned” about the upcoming rally this weekend, said Rabbi Joseph Potasnkik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis — adding that he has been in touch with the NYPD.
“To do this rally on the Sabbath when people are practicing their faith?! It’s a total insult to the Jewish faith,” Potasnkik told The Post on Friday.
Eli Cohen, a Lubavicher who is executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council on Eastern Parkway, told The Post that the NYPD assured him the rally would go in the other direction toward Park Slope and not through Crown Heights.
Cohen called the protest “despicable” and said he is concerned about incitement and protesters going rogue and attacking Jews.
“This rally is about murder and destruction of the Jewish people. This rally shouldn’t take place anywhere in America, especially in areas with a large Jewish population,” he said.
Cohen also condemned the organizers’ use of the word “flood,” saying it is what the Palestinian terror group Hamas used when it murderously attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
“We will not be intimidated. We will not hide in our homes. People will be out in the street observing Sabbath in our area,” Cohen vowed.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams refused to take questions from reporters about the increase in protests over the war after a press conference on a separate issue Friday. His office cited the fact that he has said he will not take “off-topic” questions outside of Tuesday press conferences, even as the city continues to be wracked by fall-out from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy told reporters that the NYPD will increase its police presence in the area for the rally.
“The police are very much well-aware of this,” the aide said. “We’re making sure we have an omnipresence of police, so there are going to be more people in uniform there.”
Levy said the Mayor’s Office does not condone “hate” and said it “has no place in this city.” But he added that “everyone has a right to peacefully protest.”
The Jewish community has been on edge since the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of Israel, which left at least 1,400 people dead in Israel and sparked an ongoing war.
Earlier this week, Jewish students were locked inside a library at Cooper Union in Manhattan as a Pro-Palestine protest invaded the school, banging on doors while screaming.
Cooper Union sophomore Taylor Roslyn Lent was among 50 students locked in the library during the protest.
“I can say that I felt unsafe and unprotected,” Lent, a chemical engineering major, told The Post on Thursday. “I was shocked that I was experiencing this at my private university — in America — in 2023.”
Last weekend, two New York politicians were arrested at a Midtown rally. Brooklyn state Sen. Jabari Brisport, 36, and City Council Member Shahana Hanif, 32, were busted Friday night after the group stormed Bryant Park and blocked traffic at the “Cease Fire Now Rally for Gaza.”
Another protest in Bay Ridge saw thousands of anti-Israel protesters take to the streets and clash with the NYPD. Several were arrested, and there was a dispute with police.
A city Police Department rep said Friday about the upcoming rally, “The NYPD works to protect the Constitutional rights of people to peacefully protest, while at the same time ensuring public safety for visitors and residents of New York City.
“We have been policing the rallies effectively and will continue to do the same.”
-Additional reporting by Amanda Woods