According to the New York Post, students discovered a photo of their high school teacher expressing support for Israel. TikTok videos surfaced, depicting students running through the school halls. In response to the teacher’s Facebook profile picture from a pro-Israel rally, where she held a sign saying “I stand with Israel,” students staged a protest.
The incident prompted a police response on Monday morning, leading to the teacher being confined to a locked office.
TikTok footage suggests that students at Hillcrest High School in Queens, New York, engaged in running and jumping throughout the school.
A senior at the school informed the Post that students organized the protest following the revelation of the teacher’s photo on TikTok. The senior explained that a group chat was created to expose the teacher, discuss the matter, and consider initiating a riot.
Efforts by a group of students to enter the teacher’s classroom were thwarted by school staff, who then placed the teacher in a secured office, as reported by the outlet.
During the protest, a senior stated, “Everyone was yelling ‘Free Palestine!'” Meanwhile, a ninth-grader expressed the desire for the teacher to be fired.
The New York Police Department responded to a disturbance involving a “disorderly group of students inside the location.” After the school sergeant intervened, the students dispersed. Once order was restored by the police and school deans, the teacher was escorted out of the school.
Mayor Eric Adams condemned the incident in a statement on Saturday, denouncing it as “vile antisemitism” motivated by ignorance-fueled hatred. He emphasized that such behavior would not be tolerated in any city schools.
In a statement to the New York Post, the teacher revealed feeling deeply affected by online calls for violence against her. She emphasized that no one, whether student or teacher, should feel unsafe at school.
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