With concerns over the impact of a planned pro-Palestinian protest on Monday at JFK Airport, the NYPD warned passengers to arrive early for any flights on New Year's Day.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a number of vehicles waving Palestinian flags could be seen in the area of JFK Airport as police appeared to limit access to Terminal 4 and to the AirTrain. Traffic was very heavy in the area.
"The Port Authority, in coordination with our local, state, and federal partners, deployed safety and security measures to help ensure an uninterrupted travel experience at JFK," said Port Authority spokesperson Seth Stein in a statement."
New Year's Day is typically the last day of the traditional busy holiday travel season.
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"If anyone is flying out of JFK Airport today, please plan to travel to the airport ahead of time. There are planned protests today and will cause delays. We don't want anyone to miss their flights!," NYPD Chief of Transportation Chief Philip Rivera posted on X, formerly Twitter.
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Later, some of the vehicles involved in the caravan, headed to LaGuardia Airport.
"The protest car caravan originally near JFK is traveling W/B on GCP at 27 Ave. The right and center lanes are blocked and are headed towards Laguardia Airport," Rivera said.
LaGuardia Airport's official X account also told passengers to allow extra time due to police activity.
Just, last week pro-Palestinian protesters briefly blocked entrance roads to JFK Airport, forcing some travelers to set off on foot to bypass the jammed roadway.
As U.S. airlines contended with a rush of holiday travel, the demonstrations snarled traffic on the outskirts of John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, as well as Los Angeles International Airport. A total of 62 people were arrested during the two protests, police said.
In New York, activists locked arms and held banners demanding an end to the Israel-Hamas war and expanded rights for Palestinians, bringing traffic to a standstill for about 20 minutes. on the Van Wyck Expressway leading up to the airport.
Video posted to social media showed passengers, some carrying suitcases, leaving vehicles behind and stepping over barriers onto the highway median. One woman could be heard saying that she was “sorry for what’s going on in another country,” but she had to get to work, using an obscenity.
Twenty-six people were arrested on the roadway, said Steve Burns, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The agency also dispatched two buses “offering rides to travelers involved in the backup to allow them to reach the airport safely,” Burns said.
Around the same time as the New York protest, a major thoroughfare leading to the Los Angeles airport was shut down by another group of pro-Palestinian protesters, who dragged traffic cones, trash bins, scooters and debris into the lanes, according to news helicopter footage.
In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department accused protesters of throwing a police officer to the ground and "attacking uninvolved passerbys in their vehicles,” without providing further details about either incident.
The group appeared to flee when police arrived, though the Los Angeles Police Department said traffic around the airport remained impacted roughly two hours after the demonstration was declared unlawful.
A spokesperson for the LAPD said 35 people were arrested for rioting and one person was arrested for battery of a police officer. No officers were injured, according to the spokesperson. An estimated 215,000 passengers and 87,000 vehicles were expected to pass through the Los Angeles airport on Wednesday.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on Oct. 7, near nightly protests have broken out in cities across the United States. In New York, pro-Palestinian organizers have responded to the growing death toll in Gaza with escalating actions aimed at disrupting some of the city's best-known events, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center.
