New York City far-left and anti-Israel activists protested against the proposed subway mask ban on Saturday.
New York City Revolutionary Youth, Palestine Solidarity Alliance, New York City Resistance Coalition and other groups rallied at Gov. Kathy Hochuls’s office to demonstrate against the leader weighing a ban on masks in New York State’s subways following a series of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents by masked activists.
“This mask ban is a clear infringement on the rights of the people which we will not stand idly and watch,” the coalition of activist groups said in a protest advertisement on Thursday.
The activists marched to the offices of Fox News and the New York Post over their “complicity and support for the mask ban and the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
NYC Revolutionary Youth claimed on Instagram to have prevented journalists and reporters from operating out of the site.
Writers Against the War on Gaza said on social media on Friday that masks protected people from the spread of viruses like COVID-19 and prevented state surveillance and doxing by pro-Israel activists.
Mask ban is "fascist"
“New York has a long history of using mask bans to repress popular struggle. They were first implemented in the 1800s to crush armed uprisings by tenant farmers in the Hudson Valley, and only repealed in 2020 when the city was ravaged by the novel coronavirus,” WAWOG said on Instagram. “When we confront mask bans, we confront legacies of racism, state-sanctioned violence, and Islamophobia. We confront a ruling class that endeavors to divide our movement and sever our solidarity with Gaza. Strike back against the fascist mask ban.”
Within Our Lifetime called those on the city council considering a mask ban fascist in a Thursday X post.
On June 13, Hochul responded to an incident in which masked anti-Israel protesters challenged subway passengers, telling them to “Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist. This is your chance to get out.” When no one responded, a man said, “Okay, no Zionists here. We’re good.”
“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said in a press conference in Albany. “On the subway people should not be able to hide behind a mask and commit crimes.”