NYPD ‘prepared’ for large pro-Palestine protests during New Year’s Eve bash at Times Square

In an afternoon security briefing outside the NYPD’s Times Square substation, Adams said the Police Department is still on high alert, citing an incident at last year’s Times Square ball drop event where a Maine teenager allegedly attacked three NYPD officers with a machete. John Hart, an assistant NYPD chief in charge of the department’s intelligence division, noted that other pro-Palestine protests in the city over the past couple months have drawn between 1,000 and 5,000 people. In anticipation of Times Square protests on Sunday, Assistant NYPD Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the department will use “the same blueprint” it did when pro-Palestine demonstrators tried to interrupt the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting last month. Thousands of cops will also patrol the Times Square area during the celebrations, officials said. Asked Friday why he changed his mind, Adams said recent pro-Palestine protests have shown the settlement can be “exploited.”“We’re seeing some of that exploitation now,” he said.