More than 2,000 protesters descended on the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village on Thursday afternoon to hoist the pride flag back up again, after the Trump administration removed it earlier this week.
In a fired-up scene reminiscent of the resistance of the Stonewall Riots of 1969 that sparked the start of the gay civil rights movement, the rowdy crowd first tried to pull down the American flag that a National Park Service worker had installed Wednesday in place of the removed pride flag.
After struggling to raise the pride flag, and failing, only getting it to half mast, they succeeded in binding it to the Stars and Stripes.
“This is our flag! This is our flag!” the crowd roared.
At one point, three individuals who jumped over the park’s fence struggled to add a transgender flag into the mix, as well, but didn’t succeed.
A phalanx of New York elected officials had gathered to raise the pride flag at the site inside Christopher Park — in direct defiance of the Trump administration’s decision to remove it earlier this week. But they were basically pushed to the side by the fired-up crowd.
At one point early on, the crowd chanted at the pols to yank down the American flag, too.
“Take it down! Take it down!” they shouted. “Cowards! Cowards!”
The politicians said the pride flag underscores the importance of supporting and protecting the LGBT community in the face of attacks by Trump and extremist Republicans.
