Continuing its Summer of action, activists from Rise and Resist brought traffic to a complete standstill during the 5 pm rush hour in midtown Manhattan on July 15, 2019. Three groups blocked traffic holding up banners and stretching plastic safety fences across three pedestrian crosswalks at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 42nd Street. The action created a traffic jam for 20 blocks along Fifth Avenue up to Central Park.
Rise and Resist demands that the Trump administration adheres to the 1980 Refugee Act which states that the United States must grant asylum to refugees escaping their home countries from violence, war, death threats, persecution, and poverty. The group also calls for the immediate closure of the camps along the U.S.-Mexican border and the abolishment of the Office of Immigration and Customs (ICE) which yesterday started Trump sanctioned raids in immigrant communities. ICE is in charge of the US immigration detention centers, which are overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe. Just last Friday Mike Pence visited two concentration camps in Texas. Reporters who were allowed to access the facility recorded video of men in overcrowded cages living under inhume circumstances. They described the smell in the facility as “horrendous.” Refugees reported that they had not been able to brush their teeth or take a shower.
Amidst chants of “Close the Camps,” “No Raids” and “Abolish ICE, the NYPD announced that if the protestors who were staging a peaceful sit-in in the middle of the road did not follow NYPD orders, they were subject to arrest. About 40 activists were arrested.
A symbolic toilet with stickers reading “Drinking Water for ICE” was put in the middle of the intersection, referring to reports by female refugees that security personnel made them drink out of toilets instead of providing them with fresh drinking water.
While a few New Yorkers were annoyed because of the “inconvenience” the action created for them, other New Yorkers joined the political action group holding up signs and chanting along with the activists in a show of solidarity.
Scenes from today’s Rise and Resist action:
