At a pro-Palestinian protest outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, two masked protesters were photographed Tuesday night ripping down a picture of the Rebbe from a traffic light and throwing it away during an anti-Israel protest outside the shul.

The protest was held near East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, where an event connected to Aliyah and real estate in Eretz Yisroel was taking place inside Park East Synagogue. NYPD officers set up barricades around the area and directed attendees through a checkpoint away from the main crowd.

In the photo, one protester is seen tearing down the Rebbe’s picture while another stands nearby holding a sign that read, “Anti-Israel Is NOT Anti-Semitic.” Another clip from the scene showed a protester striking the picture with her fist.

The protest was organized by Pal-Awda NY/NJ, which claimed the event involved the sale of “stolen Palestinian land.” The same radical anti-Israel network organized a Queens protest earlier this year where demonstrators chanted, “Say it loud, say it clear, we support Hamas here.”

The mob outside Park East also used Hamas-associated imagery, with protesters making inverted triangle gestures, a symbol widely used by Hamas supporters since the October 7 massacre.

Protesters chanted, “Intifada revolution, there is only one solution,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “We don’t want a two state, we want 48.” They were also heard chanting, “Say it clear, say it loud, we don’t want no Zionists here.” A Hezbollah flag was waved among the demonstrators, and another protester wore a yellow hat marked with the word “Hezbollah.”

The protest turned violent as demonstrators clashed with police and pushed against NYPD barricades. One officer was hospitalized with a leg injury after protesters tried to breach the police line, and another officer was doused with water thrown from a building along the protest route.

The protest came months after another Pal-Awda demonstration outside Park East Synagogue last November, when protesters targeted another Israel-related event at the shul and attendees were harassed while trying to enter. That incident helped lead to a new city law requiring the NYPD to prepare safety plans for protests outside houses of worship.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani allowed the house-of-worship bill to become law, but vetoed a separate bill that would have required similar safety plans around schools and educational institutions. His office said ahead of Tuesday night’s protest that the city would ensure safe entry and exit from the synagogue, while also saying Mamdani was “deeply opposed” to the event taking place inside.

The house-of-worship bill passed with veto-proof support and became law after last year’s protest at Park East. Mayor Zohran Mamdani later vetoed a separate bill that would have required similar safety plans around schools and educational institutions.

Only a day earlier, Mamdani visited the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights for a closed-door tour with Devorah Halberstam, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Council Member Crystal Hudson. The museum is itself a Jewish educational institution, the same category of site left without the parallel safety planning requirements after Mamdani’s veto.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s protest, Mamdani’s office said the city would ensure safe entry and exit from the shul, while also saying the mayor was “deeply opposed” to the event taking place inside Park East.

Ahead of the protest, Rabbi Josh Joseph of the Orthodox Union told JNS that “the Mayor has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of Jewish New Yorkers,” while Rabbi Yeruchim Silber of Agudath Israel said, “No one should face intimidation or harassment when entering a house of worship.”

Mark Treyger, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, told JNS, “No one should ever have to calculate personal risk before walking through the doors of a synagogue.”