NEW ORLEANS — What had been a seemingly small and peaceful day-long protest in support of Palestine in New Orleans' Jackson Square escalated into violence as police tried to get the protesters to leave around 7 p.m. when the park closes daily.
The NOPD says 10 people were arrested and five officers suffered undisclosed injuries in the skirmish that seemed to break out as police tried to confiscate pool noodles and large letter that were apparently part of an unrelated marriage proposal earlier in the day.
Nearly two dozen protesters with a couple of tents had set up in the Square early Sunday and seemingly had plans to stay after dark. As police tried to get the protesters to leave, some of them put pool noodles on the spikes around the Square in an attempt to let others climb the fence safely and join the protest.
Police also tried to take some large letters from the earlier proposal and that's what led to the skirmish.
The protesters were either gone or had been taken away by 8:15 p.m., according to the WWL Louisiana crew on the scene.
One Palestinian man, who was not part of the protest, but said he witnessed it, said he is just as angry over what is happening in Gaza, but that the protesters got out of line.
“I saw some protesters pulling on a lot of the French Market doors. And, I saw two of them initiate violence," said Abdullah Falefel. Coming from a Palestinian who has family in the West Bank and Gaza, who have kind of been enslaved in a way and treated very unfairly, I am just as angry, but I believe in other ways of protesting.”
The NOPD said it was aided in the action in Jackson Square by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office and Louisiana State Police.
There have been a number of protests in support of Palestine in New Orleans, some on college campuses and some large ones on the West Bank as well as in the Central Business District. It is uncertain who organized Sunday's protest or if they were involved in any of the previous protests.
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