Although the hotel has been a site of numerous protests since President Trump’s election, few, if any, have involved the arrest of a group of clerics, reports The New York Times.
A crowd of about 200 people assembled at 88th Street and Broadway around 7 pm (EST) and then marched toward the hotel, brandishing signs with messages like "welcome refugees" while playing drums and tambourines.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the executive director of T’ruah, a rabbinical group that organized the protest, said it was meant to show that many Jews opposed the ban.
"We remember our history, and we remember that the borders of this country closed to us in 1924 with very catastrophic consequences during the Holocaust," Rabbi Jacobs said. "We know that some of the language that’s being used now to stop Muslims from coming in is the same language that was used to stop Jewish refugees from coming."
When the protesters reached the hotel around 8pm, several members of the group announced that they would take symbolic actions to be arrested. A few moments later, a group of men and women walked onto Central Park West and sat down across the avenue, blocking cars and trucks. A police announcement sounded through a loudspeaker: "If you remain in the roadway and refuse to utilise the sidewalk, you will be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.”
Soon afterward, police officers approached and led the seated protesters away. As they departed in handcuffs, the rest of the marchers clapped and shouted in approval.
