Seven arrested in NYC after confrontation between Trump supporters and hecklers
Seven people were arrested Sunday in Times Square, the NYPD said, during what video shows to be a confrontation between occupants of a vehicle bearing Trump flags and hecklers in the street.
According to an email from the NYPD’s press office, the arrestees were five males and two females; no one was injured and criminal charges are pending. The department did not disclose which side the arrestees were from, but video posted to Twitter showed several among the hecklers being handcuffed.
Councilman Joe Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, said later on Twitter that at least one of the arrests was on a felony charge.
During the melee, the Village People’s "Y.M.C.A." — which has been played lately at Trump rallies and Trump himself has begun dancing to — blasts in the background.
Before NYPD officers arrive, according to the video, there is brawling between Trump supporters and others in Times Square. It appears that during the confrontation one or more of the hecklers had grabbed flags off the pro-Trump SUV. The video shows there is fighting between the hecklers and people in the SUV, several of whom wore red "KEEP AMERICA GREAT" sweatshirts, including a woman wearing clothing decorated with an American flag.
"We don’t want you here!" one man shouted. "Go back to Long Island!" shouts another, the video shows.
In one clip, a young woman punches an apparent Trump supporter and then is pummeled by a person or people from the Trump SUV.
No single video captures the altercation from beginning to end. Much of the footage of the Times Square incident comes from right-wing Twitter users.
Other video of a Trump-supporting caravan elsewhere in midtown Manhattan shows a vehicle that was carrying former Mayor Rudy Giuliani being egged by hecklers.
Meanwhile, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan tweeted that its detectives are investigating separate video posted of people throwing objects from an overpass at a caravan of vehicles bearing Trump flags traveling along what appears to be the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
