Union Square protest following Syria missile strikes leads to arrests, cops say

April 08--Seven people were arrested Friday night during a protest in Union Square Park, police said. The demonstration drew several hundred to protest the U.S. intervention in Syria's 6-year-old civil war.

The rally came one day after President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield. The attack, with 59 Tomahawk missiles from the USS Porter and USS Ross, killed six people at the Shayrat air base, the Syrian military said.

Demonstrators gathered in midtown at 6:30 p.m. "to reject Washington's latest war and demand that the trillions spent for war abroad be used instead for people's needs like jobs, housing, health care, reproductive rights and day care," according to a Facebook event page.

Demonstrators marched holding signs that read, "No war on Syria," "Bombing Syria doesn't protect people. It kills them" and "Yes to the refugees, no to the U.S. wars that create them."

All seven demonstrators were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct around 8:40 p.m., the NYPD said.

#HappeningRightNow anti Syria bombing protest in #UnionSquare #HandsOffSyria #NYC #SyriaStrikes #ChemicalWeapons https://t.co/eaRCcwHFD7 pic.twitter.com/UYJ2EChI6k

-- TheBadHombreAccount (@inkonspicuo) April 7, 2017

@workersworld #syria #UnionSquare pic.twitter.com/sted7Zl6g8

-- cynthia may (@may_gilmer212) April 7, 2017

Demonstrators also gathered near Trump Tower on Friday, marching in protest of the strikes which followed a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians days prior.

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