BAH HUMBUG

Tourists Fume as Pro-Palestine Protest Blocks Rockefeller Tree Lighting: Report

Tourists who wanted to watch the annual tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center were met with hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters Wednesday night instead.

Tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the annual tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center Wednesday night were instead met with a group of several hundred pro-Palestine demonstrators who swarmed the area. Several fights broke out and a number of arrests were made, according to Deadline, as the crowd of rabble-rousers moved from the nearby News Corp. building at 47th Street and 6th Avenue and attempted to move towards the tree. They were stopped by a line of police. Visitors who wanted to see the tree were also blocked by police, with the New York Post claiming a number of tourists “routinely jeered” at the protesters. “I had planned my holiday around this event, being a big fan of Christmas ... Their strategy for sympathy is disruption, but all they’ll get out of me is a big f**k you,” U.K. visitor Jamie Fry told the outlet. The number of arrests is unclear and the tree lighting ceremony, which was televised by NBC, went ahead as planned.