Linda Sarsour, Women Leaders Arrested on Women Day

NEW YORK – American Muslim activist Linda Sarsour and some of the national leaders for the Women’s March on Washington and the “A Day Without A Woman” strike were arrested outside Trump International Hotel in NYC on Wednesday, March 8, sparking outrage among their supporters.

“After a peaceful protest in New York City in honor of A Day Without a Woman,10 organizers were arrested by the New York City Police Department in an act of civil disobedience,” the Women’s March organizers said in a statement put out through PR firm Sunshine Sachs, Huffington Post reported.

The NYPD later confirmed that 13 demonstrators had been arrested.

The Day Without A Woman gathering began on the southeast corner of Central Park at noon on International Women’s Day.

According to several reports, a few hundred protestors marched across town, around 1 pm, to the Trump International Hotel, intending to attempt to form a human chain around the property.

According to Isaac Saul, a reporter at A Plus who was there, NYPD arrived shortly after protesters did, and gave warnings to all to keep off the street.

Saul added that the NYPD told everyone at the rally that “anyone who did not keep off the street would be arrested for disorderly conduct.”

“Organizers urged participants who were not willfully participating in civil disobedience to leave,” Saul told us.

Saul said that half of the crowd did leave at that point, but Linda Sarsour did not. Sarsour is a prominent Muslim American activist and co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington.

She, along with 12 others, including fellow Women’s March co-chairs Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez and Bob Bland were arrested.

“[The NYPD] put [Sarsour] in a paddy wagon and protestors surrounded it, singing and chanting for her release,” said Saul.

All the arrested were released later, including Sarsour.