Crowds of angry Orthodox Jews filled the streets of a Brooklyn neighborhood after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced strict Covid-19 restrictions that would limit occupancy in synagogues.
Protesters in Borough Park, a largely Orthodox area of Brooklyn, burned a pile of discarded masks in the middle of the road. A video posted to social media shows New York City firefighters arriving at the scene to put out the blaze.
The protest reportedly continued into the early hours of Wednesday, with men in traditional Orthodox costume marching through the area.
Elsewhere in the city, police attempted to corral Orthodox Jews who were celebrating Sukkot, a Jewish holiday marking the autumn harvest.
The unrest comes after Cuomo declared the Orthodox neighborhood a coronavirus “red zone” and ordered local schools and ‘non-essential’ businesses to close. The targeted lockdown will also limit occupancy in houses of worship.
In a statement, Orthodox lawmakers from the community accused Cuomo of orchestrating “a duplicitous bait-and-switch.” They claimed that Cuomo had promised them that synagogues would be permitted to operate at 50 percent capacity, only to announce hours later that houses of worship in ‘red zones’ would be limited to 10 individuals, regardless of their size.
Community leaders have vowed to defy the order, local media reported.
Radio host and local celebrity Heshy Tischler said that he would file a court order to “hold Cuomo and the idiot [Mayor Bill] de Blasio” in contempt of a recent court ruling that blocks New York State from singling out religious gatherings when imposing coronavirus restrictions.
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