NEW YORK (WABC) — Pro-Palestinian protesters briefly interrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday morning, gluing themselves to the parade route and forcing the parade to continue around it.
The protest broke out at Sixth Avenue at West 45th Street at about 10 a.m., 90 minutes after the 97th annual parade began.
About 30 protesters were protesting along Sixth Avenue when a handful jumped the barricades, ran into street and apparently glued themselves to Sixth Avenue.
Those people are in custody and are being removed by the NYPD.
The parade, which terminates in Herald Square at Macy’s, is continuing around the police activity.
In 2014, seven people were arrested along the parade route as they protested the court’s decision not to indict a police officer in the fatal shooting of a teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
Meantime, beloved characters like Snoopy and SpongeBob SquarePants took to the skies while bands marched along the streets below to usher in the holiday season.
The parade started on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and made its way alongside Central Park in front of big crowds and a national television audience before ending up in front of Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street.
Among the big names performing is Cher, who just released her first Christmas album. The Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy Award-winner has a prime spot – performing just before the arrival of Santa Claus, which marks the end of the parade.
Other celebrities and musical groups taking part include Jon Batiste, Bell Biv DeVoe, Brandy, Jessie James Decker, Pentatonix and Miss America 2023 Grace Stanke. The parade also includes performances from the casts of some Broadway shows.
New balloons debuting this year include Leo the lizard, a character from a Netflix film, who is more than 40 feet (12.5 meters) tall, as well as ones that have been there before – like SpongeBob, coming in at 44 feet (13.4 meters).
Some characters, like Snoopy, have been in the parade for many years, but this year’s balloon is a new Beagle Scout Snoopy version – celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first appearance in the Peanuts comics.
This will be the 97th time the parade has been held since 1924.
(Some information from the Associated Press)
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