A masked protester was arrested during clashing demonstrations in front of an hour of drag stories in Manhattan organized by state attorney general Letitia James on Sunday, police said.
The man in the gold mask was taken into custody around 11:30 a.m. after an assault at the protest outside the LGBTQ Community Center on W. 13th St. in Greenwich Village.
Video posted on Twitter shows a small group of protesters, including a man in a Proud Boys sweatshirt, across the street from downtown, while a much larger crowd of counter-protesters lined the sidewalk to show their support for the event.
At one point, the man in the golden mask, can be seen shaking off the police barricades before he is arrested. An NYPD spokeswoman had no additional information about the arrest Sunday afternoon.
Attorney General Letitia James posted photos of the event on her Instagram page.
“It’s time for Drag Story Hour! They were in @lgbtcenternyc with something amazing @dragstoryhournyc storytellers, New York families, elected officials and community leaders to kick off our Drag Story Hour read-a-thon! She published
Similar family-oriented events across the country have been canceled in the wake of harassment and threats from anti-LGBTQ groups like the far-right Proud Boys, whose leader, Enrique Tarrio, is on trial along with four other members for sedition in relation to the insurrection of January 6.
In September, the Morrisania Library in the Bronx canceled a show starring drag performer Desmond Naples after the teen celeb received hate-filled violent threats.
One Instagram user wrote: “I go to that library, I go with a bunch of dog shit and I throw it back at your parents and rub it in their eyes.”
