Four people were arrested after participating in a pro-Palestine protest at a Zara store in New York, in the middle of Black Friday. The group of around 70 protesters invaded the establishment located on Fifth Avenue, one of the most famous postcards in the USA, chanting that they accuse Zara of “financing genocide in Palestine”.
In videos circulating on social media, the group of protesters appears armed with whistles, Palestinian flags and posters condemning consumers of the Spanish clothing company (“While you shop, the bombs fall”).
The date chosen by the group of activists was not by chance: Black Friday is one of the busiest days for North American commerce, as it marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the USA.
After being removed from the store by the police, the group began a march that lasted yesterday afternoon and ended in the early evening. Protests were registered in front of an Apple store, also on Fifth Avenue. “Out with ICE, Out with the KKK, Out with fascism in the United States”, shouted some activists in the midst of the symbolic city of American capitalism.
“I always see protests on Fifth Avenue, everyone is usually very decent”, revealed a street vendor who witnessed the group’s action to the newspaper New York Daily. “This was the first time I saw any arrest,” he added.
For months, an anti-Israel movement, known as the “Palestinian National Committee”, has been asking society in the US to boycott Zara products, accusing the Spanish-based company of having strengthened ties with Israel, after the company announced that it would expand its business range in Tel Aviv.