From December 27 through January 1, demonstrators used their cars—bedecked with slogans like “Intifada” and “Long live the resistance!”—to obstruct roads to major airports in Los Angeles and New York City. On Monday, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Democratic Socialists of America, and other groups organized a “shut it down for Palestine” protest, which involved physically blocking four of the main thoroughfares leading in and out of Manhattan. Police eventually removed the activists and even made arrests. But Nicole Gelinas argues that much stronger measures, entirely within the bounds of current laws, should be taken:
[T]o avoid the excessive-force charges that dogged them in 2020, police now refuse to stop people from blocking roadways, entrance ramps, and major transit centers, instead arresting them only after they’ve blocked a target, have finished with their planned action, and surrender themselves. . . .
No one is saying that people obstructing roads and transit should stew in prison for years. But they should at least receive a small-scale criminal punishment for their small-scale, criminal transgression. Police detained (and immediately released) more than 300 people during Monday’s traffic sabotage; instead of dropping the charges, why not pursue them this time?
Even a violation such as disorderly conduct can carry a fifteen-day jail sentence. A higher-level misdemeanor charge such as “criminal nuisance,” or “knowingly or recklessly creat[ing] or maintain[ing] a condition which endangers the safety or health of a considerable number of persons,” carries a potential three-month sentence. Sentences tend to get people’s attention.
If the “shut it down” crowd keeps facing no consequences, they’ll keep on shutting it down—and untrammeled low-level lawbreaking will soon become a higher-level problem, as New Yorkers, better than most, should already know.
Besides restoring order and preventing further inconveniences to the lives of millions of New Yorkers, such steps would send a clear message that the government does not approve of such expressions of hatred toward the Jewish state.
Read more on City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/article/prosecute-the-new-york-bridge-blockers