Hundreds of supporters of President Donald Trump flocked to Marine Park on Oct. 25, where Republican leaders delivered speeches in support of the commander-in-chief’s re-election.
The rally, organized by an Orthodox Jewish group that calls itself Jews for Trump, came after caravans of Trump supporters drove through New York City on Sunday afternoon.
The largest convoy, also organized by Jews for Trump, made its way from Ocean Parkway to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and across the Brooklyn Bridge, with supporters waving Trump 2020 flags and “Thin Blue Line” American flags in support of the police.
The convoy coincided with several smaller caravans and Manhattan Trump rallies, such as the “Red Zones Rally” which drove to Manhattan from Rockland County, and a smaller demonstration of support outside Trump Tower.
Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/9csGiXfsrG
— NYScanner (@nyscanner) October 25, 2020
In Times Square, Trump supporters with the “Unite 4 Economic Rights” caravan outside Trump Tower clashed with anti-Trump counter-protesters, who ripped off the convoy’s Trump flags and threw red paint on the cars, videos show.
“We don’t want you here,” one counter-protester shouted at a car of Trump supporters.
Chaos broke out between the two groups, with supporters on either side punching, kicking, and tripping each other. One video shows a Trump supporter in a red sweater lunging at a young, woman counter-protesting, and a group of demonstrators punching and kicking him.
Eyewitness Jordan Baruch said that the Trump supporters in the Times Square conflict were with the rally outside Trump Tower organized by the Conservative Republican Alliance of New York — not with Jews for Trump, which several sources reported.
Police arrested eleven people in the Times Square clash.
BREAKING IN MANHATTAN. Anti-Trump protesters rip flags off vehicles part of the #JewsForTrump vehicle convoy. Throw red paint on vehicles, punch Trump supporters. @realDonaldTrump @TrumpWarRoom pic.twitter.com/qbCeMKWWl9
— NYScanner (@nyscanner) October 25, 2020
The pro-Trump caravans drew ire in other parts of the city. Onlookers in Brooklyn and Manhattan threw eggs at the cars as they passed, and in Midtown, a group of counter-demonstrators argued with a Trump protester and stole her Trump baseball cap.
Still, after the convoys drove around the city, hundreds of supporters with Jews for Trump and other pro-Trump locals made their way to Marine Park for the 5 pm rally. A line of cars shut down two blocks of E. 34th Street and clogged Avenue U, where attendees held flags high, honked their horns, and played music.
In the park, speakers cheered the crowd on from a flatbed truck.
“Trump 2020!” shouted Heshy Tischler, the radio personality, City Council candidate and admitted anti-masker who earlier this month was arrested on charges of inciting a riot for his role in the violent anti-lockdown protests in Borough Park.
Sunday’s crowd of nearly 1,000 people was mostly Orthodox Jewish, and about half of the attendees wore face masks, according to a Brooklyn Paper reporter on the scene. One Trump supporter told this reporter that she believed Trump would send her medication if she contracted COVID-19.
#HappeningNow in Marine Park, Brooklyn #JewsForTrump pic.twitter.com/PEHsZNPe1U
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) October 25, 2020
Throughout the rally, the crowd chanted “four more years,” and “USA” while waving Israeli flags and signs in support of the police. The song “YMCA” by the Village People — the apparent anthem of the event — played repeatedly.
The rally’s speakers included former Borough Park state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a conservative Democrat, and billionaire heiress Andrea Catsimatidis, the chairwoman of the Manhattan Republican Party whose father founded the Gristedes Foods grocery chain.
“This is probably one of the most exciting moments of my life to see my city out here,” Catsimatidis told the cheering crowd. “The best is yet to come! And that’s why we need four more years of President Trump.”
Unlike earlier in the day, there were no apparent counter-protests at the Marine Park rally, and no reports of any altercations or arrests.
