Palestinian Pro-Climate Change Activists Interrupt Macy’s Parade

A group called the “Seven Circles Alliance” disrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City by laying down in the street, blocking the parade route, and chanting “liberation for Palestine and planet.”

A female protester in the group said, “We are calling for liberation of Palestine and our planet. There is an ongoing genocide, and our planet is dying. We are calling on the United States government to take a stand. To call for an end to apartheid, to call for an end to the use of fossil fuels. We are all at risk here.”

Several protesters climbed over the fencing, laid down in the middle of the street on the parade route, and poured a red liquid resembling blood on themselves before police arrived to arrest them.

According to the organization’s website, the group is “a coalition of diverse groups that employ direct action to bring class consciousness to the climate movement and force political and economic system change through a decolonial lens.”

“Our objective is to unite labor unions, climate scientists, student bodies, and socialist organizations with the general public to instigate an international general strike to confront the elephant in the room, capitalism,” the group states on the site. “To evolve past the market-based limitations we are facing, we must decentralize private capital and its henchmen, the corporations. Without the de-commodification of the ecological means of survival, conditions will continue to deteriorate exponentially.”

The 97th Macy’s Parade is an annual Thanksgiving tradition in New York City and brings thousands of people along its route through Manhattan.

Thousands lined the streets in coats on a sunny morning. Children were on the shoulders of their parents, shouting as iconic balloons representing Snoopy and SpongeBob and Leo the Lizard went by.

Among the big names performing was Cher, who has just released her first Christmas album. The Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy Award-winner had a prime spot — performing just before the arrival of Santa Claus, which marks the end of the parade.

At street level, the procession includes more than two dozen floats, interspersed with marching bands from around the country and a number of clown crews among the 8,000 people participating, organizers said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.