The furious father seen confronting pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the Williamsburg Bridge as he desperately tried to get home to his daughter is speaking out after going viral.
The driver was trapped on the Williamsburg Bridge and lost his patience when masked protesters stood in front of his Honda SUV and refused to let him pass.
He posted a 90-second video Thursday – wearing the same Brooklyn Nets hoodie he wore in the no famous initial clip – to X under the name Kevin Rivera where he explained his actions toward the ‘idiot’ protesters.
‘I was on my way home, wanting nothing more than to be where I needed to be,’ he said.
He said that he regretted how he came off in public and the added exposure ‘has been somewhat difficult to deal with’ but he wasn’t happy with being kept from his family.
The furious father seen confronting pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the Williamsburg Bridge as he desperately tried to get home to his daughter is speaking out after going viral
‘I wish that I had not been captured on video in such an angry state and behaved in such a way, but I could not allow those people to impede my passage and in essence hold me hostage.’
Rivera said that there have ‘been some unkind comments’ toward him but he’s ‘more grateful for those who have been kind during all of this.’
He also made it clear how blessed he was to be an American and added that he supported protesting the right way.
‘I say that because we as citizens of this country have the right to peacefully protest, so long as we do not break the law, such as disrupting traffic on the roadways,’ he said. ‘I wish that I did not have to resort to the actions that I did, but I had to get home.’
He did not take a side in the conflict between Israel and Hamas but had hopes for more peaceful times going forward.
‘I’m saddened to see the things that go on in this world that we are living in and pray that there is a true change for global peace,’ he said.
New York was besieged by hundreds of demonstrators who blocked all major vehicle routes in and out of the city for more than an hour on Monday – leading to 325 arrests across the Big Apple.
The coordinated action hit the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, and Holland Tunnel, stopping traffic out of Manhattan.
He posted a 90-second video Thursday – wearing the same Brooklyn Nets hoodie he wore in the no famous initial clip – to X under the name Kevin Rivera where he explained his actions toward the ‘idiot’ protesters
The angry dad managed to push his way through pro-Palestinian protesters to reach his daughter across the Williamsburg Bridge
WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE: The four main thoroughfares in New York City’s Manhattan are still blocked as of 11am – causing a backlog of traffic downtown, to the dismay of irate commuters
WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE: Protesters used similar tactics across the city to cause traffic chaos by sprawling themselves in a linked line across the entry
The man shoved three male protesters standing directly in front of his car, then got back in his car and slowly drove towards them until they let him escape
He first yelled at a woman in a hi-vis vest who appeared to be organizing the obstruction, as she appeared to be trying to calm him down.
‘You’re disrupting traffic, idiots. You can’t do that, that’s against the law,’ he shouted, then gave up and got out of the car to confront them directly.
‘I’m gonna have to start throwing fists at y’all, I’m not gonna run you over… get away from my car.’
The man shoved three male protesters standing directly in front of his car, pushing one of them a second time when he moved back in place.
The hi-vis woman tried to defuse the situation as the man stopped pushing and screamed: ‘Get away from my car, I have a daughter in Brooklyn.’
Officers rounded up the cuffed protesters and lined them up in single file before hoisting them onto a MTA bus to be processed
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: Protesters have blocked Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan this morning – as they called to ‘lift the siege on Gaza’
Brooklyn Bridge, which connects downtown Manhattan to Dumbo in Brooklyn, is swarmed by police arresting the protesters on Monday
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: Three demonstrators, wearing face coverings, are led off the bridge on Monday afternoon
Perhaps egged on by bystanders calling for him to run the protesters over, he got back behind the wheel and started inching forward.
‘Get out of the way, I have to get home,’ he yelled out the window as he edged forward towards the masked group.
The demonstrators held their ground until it was clear he wasn’t going to stop, and he was able to move past them and continue on his way.
Cops eventually started unlinking the pro-Palestine demonstrators at the Brooklyn Bridge, who strapped their arms together with metal tubes, concrete and tires in their latest attempt to demand a ceasefire in Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Officers rounded up the cuffed protesters and lined them up in single file before hoisting them onto a MTA bus to be processed.
NYPD Chief John Chell said 325 people were arrested on Monday after blocking the bridges about 9.40am, until they were cleared out by 11.15am.
‘In lieu of summons, many protestors will face misdemeanor charges with a desk appearance ticket,’ he said.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: A woman shouts as she is handcuffed by three NYPD officers
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: NYPD officers at Brooklyn Bridge started attempting to unlink the disruptive pro-Palestine protesters, who seemed to have trapped their arms together, forming a human barricade, using metal tubes, concrete, and duct tape
A sign at New Jersey-bound Holland Tunnel – where traffic was brought to a halt around 10am – read: ‘Lift the siege on Gaza. Ceasefire now.’
Groups of around 85 protesters sat at the entrance to the tunnel with Palestinian flags, chanting and cheering as one person screamed through a megaphone.
They shouted in unison: ‘Free, free Palestine. Stop the Zionist occupation.’
Port Authority police stood idle as they watched protesters at Holland Tunnel – many of whom wore face coverings, scarves, and hoods – swell to numbers topping 100.
At Manhattan Bridge, swathes of beeping vehicles could be heard as the protesters got in position and formed a human chain across the entry path into the city.
Once they were locked in a line, another gang of protesters formed a row behind them, holding large signs and screaming: ‘Shut it down!’
At Brooklyn Bridge, around 40 protesters sat crossed-legged in the middle of the road as raging traffic was blocked from entering, just after the peak of rush hour.
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: One protester refuses to get up, even when being handcuffed
HOLLAND TUNNEL: Groups of around 85 protesters sat at the entrance to the tunnel with Palestinian flags, chanting and cheering as one person screamed through a megaphone
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: A wall of protesters chain chairs and cones together
BROOKLYN BRIDGE: Demonstrators, all wearing face coverings and scarves, are handcuffed
As well as the demonstrators on the concrete, dozens more pro-Palestine supporters lined the walkway of the bridge – which is usually filled with tourists crossing from Dumbo to the Financial District.
Videos showed that as the police presence escalated, some of the disruptive protesters were carted away in handcuffs.
At Williamsburg Bridge, protesters used similar tactics to cause traffic chaos by sprawling themselves in a linked line across the entry.
The four main thoroughfares in New York City’s Manhattan are still blocked as of 11am – causing a backlog of traffic downtown, to the dismay of irate commuters.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators close down the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the main bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn
Members of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit attempt with power saws to separate pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocking a Brooklyn Bridge roadway during a ‘Shut it Down for Palestine’ rally
The group, which is demanding a cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Gaza, joined with other protesters in briefly stopping traffic at numerous New York City bridges
MANHATTAN BRIDGE: At Manhattan Bridge, swathes of beeping vehicles could be heard as the protesters got in position and formed a human chain across the entry path
HOLLAND TUNNEL: Port Authority police stood idle as they watched protesters at Holland Tunnel – many of whom wore face coverings, scarves, and hoods – swell to numbers topping 100
MANHATTAN BRIDGE: On Manhattan Bridge, the pro-Palestine protesters blocked traffic with their bodies
MANHATTAN BRIDGE: Drivers were forced to a standstill and got out of their cars in anger as they were stopped by the protests in front of them
Canal Street, in downtown Manhattan, was gridlocked by the overflowing traffic caused by the protesters’ disruption.
An MTA bus full of arrested demonstrators was halted in the road jam.
The NYPD confirmed to DailyMail.com it moved to ‘Level Three’ police mobilization to combat the protests.
Level three mobilization is the second highest alert level in the NYPD, meaning all special units are called into action and squad cars are sent out from every command center in the city.
Last month, pro-Palestine protestors clashed with NYPD officers in ugly scenes in New York City as Christmas Day was marred by demonstrations against Israel in several US cities.