Two men marching in a protest against New York state’s vaccine mandate flipped over a COVID-19 testing site tent on Monday. Marchers passed directly by the Union Square testing station, many of them booing and chanting, “Shame on you!” One man, recording on his phone, overturned the testers’ table. Another then pulled down the tent, before police officers intervened. The rally is largely made up of DOE staffers, according to the New York Post, protesting the agency’s vaccine mandate, which went into effect on Monday. Since Oct. 3, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, 95 percent of all DOE employees have gotten their jabs.
The march began in Brooklyn outside Department of Education headquarters earlier in the day, as hundreds of people gathered to hear speeches. It mobilized and moved across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan, with chants of “Wake up, New York,” “Let us teach,” and “We, the people, will not comply.” Footage captured by Brendan Gutenschwager, an independent reporter, appeared to show marchers fist-bumping and shaking hands with a few firemen and police officers, and jeering at outdoor diners as they made their way uptown. The rally landed outside the Australian Consulate in Midtown East for more speeches in support of Australia, which has been struggling with its own vaccine mandate protests in recent weeks.
