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A vehicle crashed into a crowd of about 50 people at a protest Friday afternoon in the middle of Manhattan, injuring several people, the New York City Police Department said.
The incident occurred after 4 p.m. at the corner of 39th Street and Third Avenue in downtown east, police said, adding that the woman at the wheel of the BMW sedan who drove through the crowd was detained for being questioned by the police.
The New York fire department said six people were taken by ambulance to local hospitals. Police and fire officials said the injuries did not appear to be life threatening.
Some social media accounts described a chaotic scene around a stopped car surrounded by protesters, before the vehicle lunged into the crowd, causing some people and bicycles to fall.
In a video showing the car’s movements, a small group of protesters could be seen gathered around the car as it slowly approached an intersection, with one person apparently leaning over the front of the vehicle. The car suddenly sped up, knocking down people blocking it and people in the intersection.
In another video from the opposite side, people are seen fleeing and one person is knocked down as the car speeds by.
A participant in the protest, Sofia Vickerman, from Denver, Colorado, said that when the car hit the crowd it threw people and a bicycle into the air.
“I hear people screaming in front, I look behind me, the woman is making her way,” he said. “I see bodies flying.”
Vickerman said the march had started in Times Square and was intended to draw attention to an ongoing hunger strike by detained immigrants in New Jersey. A Reuters photographer at the scene also confirmed that the rally was held in solidarity with nine undocumented immigrants who are in the custody of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Police and several local media outlets said the protest was sponsored by Black Lives Matter.
