Pro-Palestinian protesters try to shut down Brooklyn Museum

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) -- Pro-Palestinian protesters descended on the Brooklyn Museum on Friday evening, trying to shut down the institution, according to video and an X post by Within Our Lifetime.

The crowd of people waved banners and chanted, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. We will free Palestine." At least three people waved the Palestinian flag atop the museum steps. A black banner with the words "Free Palestine" was hung from the museum's roof, videos on social media show.

Notify NYC warned residents to avoid the area and expect traffic delays near Atlantic Avenue and Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

A group claiming to represent the protesters said the action was targeting museum board members. It was not immediately clear whether anyone on the Brooklyn Museum Board of Trustees has direct ties to Israel or the war with Hamas.

"The Brooklyn Museum was targeted in an autonomous action organized by hundreds of artists, cultural workers, and other NYC communities who came together under the banner Cultural Front for Free Palestine with demands relating to the genocide in Gaza," an email obtained by PIX11 News read. "Today, the ongoing pillage of housing and livelihoods proceeds through the economic violence of investors and developers, many of whom sit on museum boards while the ongoing trauma comes at the hands of armed police whose primary mission is the protection of property and the repression of dissent. Free Palestine. Palestine is everywhere."