NYC pro-Palestinian protesters block roads near JFK Airport, march toward Wall Street
NEW YORK - Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched over to Wall Street for a demonstration Monday, just outside what used to be the headquarters of Israel’s national airline El Al.
Hours before, where it's normally an easy entry into the Jamaica Train Station, the long line of backed up passengers waiting to get into JFK's AirTrain Terminal grew quickly following tightened security amid protests there.
Port Authority Police officers were observed asking for ID's and tickets from passengers heading toward the air train.
Featured
JFK Airport protest: Travelers push through demonstrators blocking Van Wyck; 26 arrested
At least 26 people were arrested after an apparent pro-Palestinian demonstration blocked traffic near and inside JFK Airport.
Police hoped to weed out the passengers from the protesters with plans to flood JFK for Gaza, according to social media posts.
Along Lefferts Boulevard, officers were checking every car to make sure drivers too had either an employee ID or travel documents before gaining entry to the airport.
Officials even positioned dump trucks to block the service road coming from the Belt Parkway onto the AirTrain Terminal after reports of an 80-vehicle caravan with the group traveling on that stretch were heading toward JFK.
A shot of the Belt Parkway on Monday. (FNTV)
Police reported around six cars stopped traffic as part of protest while travelers were left with consequences from the chaos.
"Just like the traffic was crazy," one couple told FOX 5 NY. "Cops told us to come down this way. We got down, had to do a U-turn, come back this way so just doing our best."
Luckily, for Fernando and Maria, they gave themselves some cushion for travel delays.
SkyFox was over the Monday march.
"We have probably two hours, so we left a little early, but we didn’t know there was a protest going on, so we were kind of surprised, frustrated, but what can we do?" they questioned.
AirTrain services were shut down at one point between Federal Circle and the terminals. The services were later reinstated, and restrictions were lifted.
The NYPD reported no arrests.