Police arrest 100 pro-Gaza protesters a block from Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s home

More than 100 protesters were arrested during a “Seder in the Streets” protest near Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s home in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

The mostly Jewish protesters gathered in Grand Army Plaza, one block away from Mr Schumer’s home, for the seder, a ritual that marked the second night of the holiday celebrated as a festival of freedom by Jews worldwide.

The protesters called on Mr Schumer – who is among a minority of Democrats to recently criticise the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – to call for an end to the United States’ military support of Israel.

Hundreds of people were seen gathered around a circular banner representing a Seder plate, which included the words “Jews say stop arming Israel” alongside images of foods eaten during the Seder meal.

“This will not be a Seder as usual. These are not usual times,” Morgan Bassichis, a member of the progressive group Jewish Voice for Peace, told attendees.

“We as American Jews will not be used, we will not be complicit and we will not be silent. Judaism is a beautiful, thousands-year-old tradition, and Israel is a 76-year-old colonial apartheid state,” they added.

“This is the Passover that we take our exodus from Zionism. Not in our name. Let Gaza live.”

Several other speakers addressed the crowd, including journalist and author Naomi Klein, Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour and several Jewish students suspended from Columbia University and Barnard College following pro-Palestinian protests in recent days, before a large portion of the crowd moved into the street, blocking the flow of traffic.

Police who had been monitoring the event warned protesters that they would be arrested if they did not move before moving in to make arrests when their