Hundreds of people were arrested on Friday in New York during a demonstration organized by the Jewish movement against the Israeli bombing of Gaza, according to police and organizers, France Presse reported, citing Agerpres.

New York police announced at least 200 arrests, and organizers said more than 300 people were arrested during the crackdown on the rally at New York’s Central Station.

Photos taken at the scene showed long lines of handcuffed youths wearing black hoodies with the words “Not in our name” and “Cease fire now” printed in white.

The mass sit-in was organized by the group Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City, according to which thousands of participants blocked the main hall of the station. This is “the largest act of civil disobedience in New York in the last twenty years,” the movement said.

Images showed the terminal filled with protesters holding placards that read, among other things, “Palestinians must be free.”

Several rabbis began the event by lighting Shabbat candles and reciting the Jewish Kaddish prayer for the dead.

“Saturday is usually a day of rest, but we cannot afford to rest while genocide is taking place in our name,” slave Mei Ye said in a statement released by organizers.

“The lives of Palestinians and Israelis are closely linked, and security can only come through justice, equality and freedom for all,” she added.

The Ministry of Health of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip, said 7,326 people, mostly civilians, including more than 3,000 children, had died in the Palestinian territories as a result of Israeli retaliatory bombing since October 7 .

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians, killed by Hamas on October 7 in what authorities say is the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

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