10,000 march across Brooklyn Bridge to protest spike in anti-Semitic attacks
In a massive display of solidarity against anti-Semitism, more than 10,000 people, including New York's governor, marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday to protest a recent string of hate attacks in the New York-New Jersey region, including a machete rampage at a rabbi's home during a Hanukkah celebration.
The demonstrators chanted "No Hate, No Fear" as they gathered in Foley Square in lower Manhattan and marched across the bridge to Cadman Square in Brooklyn, accompanied by a heavy police presence.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked off the march by announcing the state will spend an additional $45 million to protect faith-based groups from being targeted for hate crimes.
"I'm heartened to see this amazing show of support and solidarity. Literally over 10,000 people have shown up to show support and love for the Jewish community, and that's New York at her best," Cuomo said.
State Assemblyman Simcha Euchenstein, who represents parts of Brooklyn, accused Cuomo of grandstanding, saying the funding had already been earmarked on Twitter.
"[Cuomo] announced this same funding over and over as if it's new," he wrote. "This is the same $45 million that we passed in the budget last year. We need additional security funding for schools and houses of worship."
Fool me once...@NYGovCuomo announced this same funding over and over as if it’s new.
This is the same $45 million that we passed in the budget last year.
We need additional security funding for schools and houses of worship. twitter.com/nygovcuomo/sta…
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The protest came a week after a man armed with a machete stormed a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi's home in the New York City suburb of Monsey, stabbing six members of the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish congregation.
Authorities arrested 38-year-old Grafton Thomas in the attack and discovered his journals contained anti-Semitic sentiments, including references to Hitler and "Nazi Culture" "on the same page as drawings of a Star of David and a Swastika," according to a criminal complaint charging him with federal hate crimes. A Rockland County, New York, grand jury also indicted Thomas on six counts of second-degree attempted murder, three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of first-degree attempted assault and two counts of first-degree burglary,
The Hanukkah rampage followed at least 13 anti-Semitic attacks in the New York-New Jersey region, including nine in New York City.
On Dec. 10, a man and a woman stormed a Jersey City, New Jersey, kosher supermarket in an apparent act of domestic terrorism and fatally shot three people before they were both killed by police. The alleged shooters, David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, are also suspected of killing Jersey City Det. Joseph Seals that same day in a cemetery about a mile from the kosher market, and were prime suspects in the killing of an Uber driver, whose body was discovered on Dec. 7 in the trunk of a car in Bayonne, authorities said.
Both Anderson and Graham are believed to have expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelites, a group that espouses hatred toward Jews and is known for anti-government and anti-police sentiments, sources told ABC News.
"The recent rash of anti-Semitic and other hate-fueled attacks in New York and across the nation are understandably causing anxiety, but we will not be intimidated," Cuomo said.
