Pro-Palestine supporters crashed a New York Christmas Eve caroling event by attempting to drown out the singing, but attendees pushed on regardless.
The event at Washington Square Park on Sunday drew demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The festive chorus interrupted by Pro Palestine chants, as protestors in a massive SUV with monster car wheels circled the perimeter.
The counter event to the annual carol service was organized by the ‘Within Our Lifetime’ group.
The group shared stories on Instagram amid the takeover event, with the caption: ‘No celebration, ’til liberation.’
Pro Palestine protesters attempted to disrupt a carol service in New York’s Washington Square Park
Demonstrators encircled the area with car caravans, blasting their horns and playing loud music
The annual caroling around the tree event kicked off at 5pm.
Protesters quickly encircled the area with car caravans, blasting their horns and playing loud music and boasting of disrupting the service.
But carolers remained unfazed by the disruption and doggedly continued singing.
‘They disrupted, we sang louder,’ Ed Cooper, 76, told The New York Post.
‘We weren’t going to let them make this their night. Yeah, it was annoying, but Christmas for me is about making the negative into a positive.
‘I heard that honking and that loud music and said to myself, this is God’s way of telling me I’m not caroling loudly enough. I sang myself hoarse.’
Another caroler, Shannon, of the West Village, branded the protesters ‘jerks’ despite being in favor of a ceasefire.
‘Carolers of all races and persuasions are caroling together in the spirit of the holidays, and these jerks are driving around with music blasting out of massive speakers and honking their horns incessantly as a tactic to what – annoy the everloving s***out of people whose support they’re trying to win? I really don’t understand it,’ she told the outlet.
Carolers remained undeterred despite the interruption and vowed to sing until they were ‘hoarse’
The counter event to the Christmas Eve carol service was organized by the pro Palestine ‘Within Our Lifetime’ group
‘I’m fairly young, and apparently a lot of people my age think killing Christmas for a cause is badass. I find it misguided and counterproductive.
‘I don’t think anybody who came out tonight is now more likely to come out for Palestine.’
The event was part of a wider series of demonstrations across the tri-state area.
Among them was the ‘Flood the Highways for Gaza’ car caravan taking place in New York and New Jersey.
Participants were invited to bring flags, keffiyehs, and signs, and ‘turn the highways into a flood of support’.
The protest came amid the news that at least 68 people have been killed in a deadly Christmas Eve airstrike on a Gaza refugee camp.
The protest unfolded following the news at 68 people were killed in a deadly Christmas Eve Israeli airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah, according to Gaza health officials
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to the hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
Frantic Palestinians were seen carrying the dead, including a baby, and wounded following the strike on the Maghazi refugee camp east of Deir al-Balah.
Meanwhile, the number of Israeli soldiers killed in combat over the weekend rose to 15 following the death of IDF soldier Sgt. Birhanu Kassie, 22.
The city has been rocked by waves of Pro Israel and Pro Palestine marches ever since the Hamas attack of October 7, which killed 1,200 and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage.
Pro Palestine supporters are demanding a ceasefire in the retaliatory strikes by Israel which have so far killed more than 20,000 despite disapproval on the international stage.
‘The war exacts a very heavy price from us, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.