NYPD officer caught on video punching pro-Gaza protester during Brooklyn rally

Footage shows New York Police Department officers slamming a pro-Gaza protester to the ground and appearing to repeatedly punch him.

In videos posted on X, several officers are seen tackling the protester, holding him by the neck and then hitting him.

Next to him, a different officer is seen slamming a second protester into the ground before holding him there with his body weight. The officer then appears to press the protester’s head into the ground.

Officers are heard repeatedly telling the surrounding crowd, including the videographers capturing the encounters, to “back up.”

Peter Hambrecht, one of the videographers, said that one of the protesters was bleeding from the head as officers escorted them to a police van.

Moments before the physical altercation with the officers, footage shows demonstrators carrying a banner across the street. They did not appear to be interacting with law enforcement.

The incidents came as demonstrators took to the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday for a protest marking the 76th anniversary of the Nabka, when some 700,000 Palestinians were driven from or fled their homes during the Arab-Israeli war soon after Israel was established.

Via Independant