NYPD makes arrests, breaks up rowdy protest at Manhattan vigil for Ayatollah Khamenei

A vigil for the late Ayatollah Khamenei at Washington Square Park turned chaotic Friday night, as demonstrators clashed with counter protesters and police arrested multiple participants.

A flier circulated online Friday advertising the event as a vigil for Iran’s supreme leader after he was killed in joint Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran last week. Groups billed the event as a memorial for Khamenei and “ALL MARTYRS OF AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM”

Roughly 200 people were gathered underneath the Washington Square arch shortly after 6:15 p.m. Demonstrators waved Iranian flags inside a blocked off area, surrounded by more than a dozen NYPD officers.

Counterprotesters gathered around the group waving American and Israeli flags yelling “Communism is dead!”

An NYPD spokesperson said at least three people were taken into custody as of 7 p.m. Friday. NYPD community affairs officers broke up multiple yelling matches between protesters a few feet from the arch before the event concluded around 8 p.m.

“I’m here heart and soul in solidarity with the Palestinians, with the Iranians, with the Lebanese, with the Yemini–all the people of the region the U.S. is making war on,“ said Jersey City resident Sara Flounders, a well-known activist with the Workers World Party. “We want to show real solidarity with Iran. This is a moment of real pain there.”

The Iranian regime has a well-documented history of violence toward its own people. The United Nations Human Rights Council reported that Iranian leaders killed thousands of their own citizens earlier this year, following nationwide protests against economic conditions.

Tables laid out underneath the arch featured flowers and candles around a photo of Khamenei. Photos of Black Americans killed in altercations with the police — including Breonna Taylor — were also on display.

The tables also held a copy of the Quran and stacks of zines with titles such as “Zionism and Racist Landlords” and “ICE & Friends.

Some demonstrators began praying as counter protesters crowded around them and began to yell.

“I don’t like war but I feel like there was no choice,” said pro-Israel protester Paige Davidoff, who is Jewish. She said she didn’t want the pro-Iranian protests to go unchallenged.

This is a developing story and may be updated.