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New York Prison Uprisings

As reported in mainstream media, all outside visits have been cancelled to New York state prisons.

Around midnight on Thursday, there was a militant uprising at Riverview Correctional Facility in Ogdensburg, forcing correctional officers to retreat, vacate their posts, and call in police and emergency response teams to gain control of the situation. Last week there was another prison uprising at Collins Correctionnal Facility in Erie County.

Correctional officer pigs are currently on strike in 36 facilities across the state, so Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday signed an executive order calling up 3,500 members of the National Guard for service in the remaining unmanned prisons.

A statewide prison uprising is brewing in New York. Long live the spirit of Attica! Attica means fight back!

Source: Unity of Fields

Protesters gather in lower Manhattan to denounce recent ICE activity in New York City

Protesters took to the streets of lower Manhattan to denounce and protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday evening.

On Feb. 13, a group of about 400 protesters marched from the ICE building at Federal Plaza near Foley Square to the ICE office at West Houston and Vertex Street in SoHo.

The protest came hours after Mayor Eric Adams met with President Donald Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan. The meeting resulted in the city reopening the ICE facility at the Rikers Island jail complex.

The group was seen carrying several banners and signs in English and Spanish, shouting, “Mayor Eric Adams must go; he doesn’t care about immigrant communities.” One protester, Jason Darlugo of Nicaragua, told the crowd while fighting back tears, “I came here to give my family a better chance at life.”

NYPD Officers on foot patrol, motorcycles, and bicycles kept up with the group and attempted to cut the group route off several times. Some protesters attempted to agitate the officers.

Six protesters were arrested and taken into police custody during the protest.

Found on mainstream news.

Thousands protest Donald Trump’s attempt to erase trans people from Stonewall Riots

Thousands of people gathered around near the Stonewall Monument in New York City’s Christopher Park this afternoon to protest the National Park Service (NPS) removing all mentions of transgender and queer people from the webpage for the monument commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

The NPS did this to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting any official recognition of transgender people within U.S. departments, agencies and workforces.

Many social media commenters were baffled when the NPS Service removed all mention of the initialism LGBTQ+ and replaced it with LGB, and removed all references to the transgender figures like Zazu Nova who is now being described on the website simply as a “black woman” instead of her previous designation as a “black transgender woman.”

The outrage from this action sparked a demonstration near the memorial scheduled for February 14 at 12 p.m. local time.

An estimated 1,000 protestors assembled at the Stonewall Monument at around noon with the crowd continuing to grow.

A quick history of the Stonewall Riots & its notable trans veterans

The Stonewall Riots were a series of protests in New York City from June 28 to July 3, 1969. At the time, homosexuality and gender nonconformity was illegal throughout the nation, and locations where LGBTQ+ people congregated were subjected to police raids.

One such meeting place was the Stonewall Inn, a gay tavern in Greenwich Village. During one of these raids, patrons decided they had enough of being harassed and criminalized by law enforcement and began to fight back sparking a six-day riot that became a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights and marked the start of the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

It is widely held believed that the two main participants of these riots were Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera, along with Zazu Nova who is believed by many to have thrown the legendary “first brick” — all three individuals are transgender women.

Found on mainstream news.

Hundreds protest NYU hospital for obeying Trump order in advance & ending trans care

NYU Langone Health CEO, and dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Robert Grossman, made the decision to end care for trans youth without public notice, activists say, following Donald Trump’s January 28 executive order banning trans healthcare for youth. The parents of transgender youth got word out after their children’s appointments were canceled.

Within 36 hours, trans advocates and families – with help from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – helped to organize several hundred protestors outside of NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital in Manhattan.

Continue reading “Hundreds protest NYU hospital for obeying Trump order in advance & ending trans care”

“Fascism Is at the Door”: Trump Threatens to Deport Pro-Palestinian International Student Protesters

An executive order that purports to combat antisemitism on university campuses is likely to chill free speech and target students for pro-Palestine, antiwar and anti-racist views. The order, signed by President Trump, threatens to deport noncitizen college students and other international visitors who take part in protests considered antisemitic under a broad and contested definition of the term. Though the order gives them new teeth, these threats of deportation are not new, as our guest Momodou Taal, a doctoral student at Cornell University who was threatened with deportation last year, can attest. While public outcry forced Cornell to lift Taal’s suspension and allow him a limited return to campus, he is still effectively banned from campus life and blocked from teaching positions. “There’s somewhat of a great irony that students who were protesting apartheid are now subject to forms of exclusion bordering on apartheid,” says Taal about his ongoing exclusion.

Rights groups and legal scholars say the new executive order violates constitutional free speech rights and would likely draw legal challenges if implemented. “This is basically a textbook authoritarian playbook meant to stifle any criticism of what’s going on in Israel,” explains our other guest, Etan Nechin, a New York correspondent for Haaretz. Students like Taal, however, say they will not allow the government and their administrations to prevent them from speaking out. Taal says his pro-Palestine activism comes out of his obligations as “a human being” and that “when fascism is at the door, what we do is come together and unite even stronger.”

Source (with video): Democracy Now!

Continue reading ““Fascism Is at the Door”: Trump Threatens to Deport Pro-Palestinian International Student Protesters”

15 Months of Protest Art for Gaza

Admin note: only New York sections included

Over the last 15 months, artists have mobilized against Israel’s attacks on civilians in Gaza, which organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have determined to be consistent with genocide. After multiple failed attempts, Israel and Hamas agreed to a mutually negotiated ceasefire deal that went into effect on Sunday, January 19, with an initial phase stipulating a halt in Israeli attacks on Gaza for six weeks. The deal will reportedly allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip as Palestinians are permitted to return to their locales and Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners will be released in stages. Still fragile as it unfolds day by day, the US-backed ceasefire deal marks a precarious break in the onslaught of violence and destruction throughout Gaza. On Monday, January 27, tens of thousands of displaced Gazans began to return north.

In their international push for a permanent ceasefire, artists have developed visual languages to demand institutional divestments from Israel and call for an end to violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Many have either foregone or been denied life-changing career opportunities in their public advocacy for Palestine, underscoring the importance of community, solidarity, and artistic freedom in the broader culture sector.

Below are some of the most impactful moments of artistic protest for Gaza since October 2023.

Continue reading “15 Months of Protest Art for Gaza”

ICE launches ‘targeted operations’ in New York

January 29, 2025

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have begun in New York City as the Trump administration pushes for an increase in arrests of undocumented people across the United States.

On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in New York City to oversee ICE enforcement operations.

Noem confirmed on X that at least one arrest happened in the Bronx as a result of an ICE raid. The Aurora Police Department later confirmed the suspect arrested was wanted for burglary in Colorado.

Mayor Eric Adams addressed the ICE operation in a statement, which read in part:

“Our city coordinated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on a federal criminal investigation involving a suspect hiding in New York City. As I have repeatedly said, we will not hesitate to partner with federal authorities to bring violent criminals to justice — just as we have done for years.”

An ICE spokesperson told [news source] that raids will be conducted in New York in a statement, which read in part: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in New York to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”

Found on mainstream news.

Columbia University suspends one student as it expedites investigation into Israeli history class disruption

January 24, 2025

Columbia University says it has suspended one student after “expediting” its investigation into a group who disrupted a class on Israeli history.

Demonstrators handed out flyers with “violent imagery” to students attending a History of Modern Israel class on Tuesday, the university said in a statement.

Columbia said it identified and suspended one student involved, pending a full review, and that its investigation remains active.

It was the first day of Professor Avi Shilon’s class, and students had only just been introduced to the course when protesters – whose faces were covered and appeared to be wearing keffiyehs, entered and distributed anti-Israel leaflets, student Elisha Baker told [news source].

One flyer shows a burning Israeli flag underneath the words “Burn Zionism to the Ground,” and another depicts a large black boot about to stomp on the Jewish Star of David and reads “Crush Zionism,” according to pictures taken by Baker.

“It was shocking for everyone in the class,” said Baker, a junior studying Middle Eastern history. “I’m still super excited for this class. It’s a shame that this incident is going to put us on edge inside the classroom.”

Found on mainstream news.

Six Joyriders Steal an R Train

New York City police are searching for a group of people they say took a subway train on a joyride.

The department released images and video Wednesday of six individuals who they say commandeered an unoccupied “R” train over the weekend.

Surveillance video from inside the train shows the group, who all wore jackets with their hoods up, as they exited the conductor’s compartment and walked through the otherwise empty car.

A video of the group on their joyride was also shared on Instagram.

The clip shows one of them seated at the controls while another appears to be sitting on the outside of the car, their legs dangling over the edge.

“Cover your faces. Cover your faces,” one of them says on the video as the train accelerates through the tunnel.

The department said Thursday that they believe the joyride occurred around 10 p.m. Saturday at the 36th Street and 4th Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn.

Police and transit officials have not said how long and how far the suspects travelled in the stolen train. They said the suspects damaged glass panels on the train’s camera.

The group fled on foot, according to police. No injuries were reported.

Spokespersons for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said they are working with police on the investigation.

Police in September said two teens took an empty subway train in Queens on a brief joyride before crashing it and fleeing.

Found on mainstream news.

Israeli Restaurant Miriam Vandalized in Brooklyn

Activists vandalized the outside of @miriamrest , a disgusting genocide supporting israeli restaurant in Brookyln. Not only was this act condemned by pig mayor Erikkk Adams and zionist senator Chuckkk Schumer, but “pro-Palestine” mayoral hopeful Zohran Kwame Mamdani decided to join in on the disavowal. Zohran was infamously arrested outside of Schumer’s house at a protest, but here it looks like they agree that fighting genocide supporters outside of “permitted” protests is too far. A supposedly socialist mayor denouncing some red paint and playing into antisemitism accusations is too far, but Mamdani’s dedication to the cause was already in question because no true supporter of the liberation and resistance would ever run for a state-elected position. No more wheatpasting or support for this fuck!

Found on social media.


The attack went down just before 3 a.m. Sunday morning, with three vandals sneaking up on the spot under the cover of darkness with their faces hidden behind hoods and masks.

One of the vandals served as a lookout, while the other two hurriedly marred Miriam’s windows before scurrying off into the night, security footage obtained by [news source] showed.

“It’s just a sad thing, you know, I don’t know what people, why they’re so angry about a restaurant in Brooklyn,” said Rafael Hasid, who’s owned the restaurant for 20 years.

“I’m Israeli, like, ‘I’m sorry I was born in Israel?’ I’m not stealing anybody’s food, not doing anything. I don’t know what people, what do they want from me, what did I do?”

The incident was the second time his restaurant was targeted by anti-Israel agitators. About two years ago, Hasid’s Miriam location on the Upper West Side was similarly vandalized.

He’s also been subjected to numerous threatening phone calls, while he said random people who have never eaten at his restaurants have blanketed him with negative reviews online.

While he has everything he needs to clean the paint off his glass, Hasid decided to open his doors Sunday without cleaning it off.

And he said the public’s response has been inspiring, with people stopping by to eat who otherwise hadn’t planned to, some offering to donate to help with the clean up, and others sticking their heads in the simply offer their support and condolences.

US Sen. Chuck Schumer even stopped by to place an order and show his support, the owner said.

Police are investigating the incident, and have have posted officers to stand watch nearby.

Found on mainstream news.