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Cable networks are preparing for the worst amid fears that their live broadcast plans on New Year’s Eve will have to change if disorderly Palestine supporters take over Times Square.
Anti-Israel protesters are threatening to derail Dec. 31 celebrations in the Big Apple, where more than a million revelers from across the country and the world are expected to ring in the new year.
The New York police are taking all security measures in the face of possible violence on the streets of New York City. Protests have occurred in the city since Hamas brutalized Israeli civilians, triggering a conflict in the Middle East on October 7.
Television networks are also preparing for a rowdy night before the ball drop, and are “prepared for anything,” according to sources who spoke with Deadline.
The program ‘Shut up!’ The protest for Palestine, organized by anti-Israel groups, will begin in the afternoon and will disrupt New Year’s Eve celebrations.
ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest to be co-hosted by Rita Ora
CNN to air Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s special New Year’s Eve celebrations. Pictured: The duo taking a photo before last year’s midnight celebrations.
It comes after protesters, calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, disrupted the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
They’re starting in Columbus Circle, which is the site of the headquarters of CNN, the network that will air Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen’s special New Year’s celebrations.
It will be the seventh year that Cooper and Cohen will host the show.
In addition to CNN, presenters from other major media outlets will also broadcast live from Times Square, where the protests threaten to reach.
ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest will be co-hosted by Rita Ora, and performers will include LL Cool J, Megan Thee Stallion, Jelly Roll and Sabrina Carpenter.
The celebrations in Times Square will begin at 6:00 pm, when the six-ton crystal ball will be lit and raised. At 11:59 p.m., the ball will begin its minute-long drop in front of hundreds of thousands of cheering partygoers.
At a news conference Friday, Mayor Eric Adams said “there are no specific threats to the city,” but “as we saw last year, after having no specific threats, we received a threat and we’re going to be prepared.”
He was referring to when three police officers were attacked by a 19-year-old Maine man with a machete over US support for Israel on December 31, 2022.
Several anti-Israel protest groups have belligerently suspended festivities in the Big Apple since October 7. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was interrupted by enthusiastic Palestinian supporters, as was the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry stated on December 29: “We are going to have cranes strategically parked throughout the New Year’s Eve festivities and we are going to deploy drones around the outer perimeter so that we can monitor protests, possible Protests coming in real time.’
Rita Ora and Ryan Seacrest are seen rehearsing for ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ in Times Square on December 30, 2023 in New York City.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen host CNN’s New Year’s special on December 31
The Times Square Alliance has warned protesters that they will not be successful and will be arrested to “stay home and protest somewhere else.”
Adams added: ‘Hundreds of thousands of people will be here queuing and no matter how many times we see it, you never get used to it, the excitement remains again and again.’
Times Square will be closed around 12 noon on New Year’s Eve and those who want to access the area will have to go through police checkpoints and security checkpoints.
Homeland Security and the FBI will be in Times Square, along with state police, horse police and canine units.
A police source said Deadline that the police presence “will be significantly greater than usual.” Many things can happen, we are prepared.”
And one cable news source said, knowing that air time in front of cameras is the goal of many protesters: “We are prepared for anything, especially when it comes to the safety of our team.”
This comes after protesters, who are calling for a ceasefire as 21,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, disrupted all major celebrations and parades in the city since the October attacks.
Protesters, dressed in black and holding wrapped dolls, hold a silent demonstration for children killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza.
New Year’s Eve street closures will begin at 4 a.m. and roads will be closed later at 11 a.m.
Security will be further tightened near the Times Square area.
Deputy Chief John Hart highlighted the department’s preparation for groups of varying sizes and points of origin for protests.
Other pro-Palestine protests in the city in recent months have attracted between 1,000 and 5,000 people.
“We’re prepared for any number of them,” Hart said. “We are prepared for different groups from different locations and we will make sure this event is safe.”
Adams, a Democrat, admitted that protesters were likely trying to riot in Times Square, where more than a million people were expected to gather to celebrate at midnight.
This comes days after police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters who blocked the entrance to New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport on one of the busiest tourist days of the year.
Travelers were forced to get out of their cars and walk to the airport with their luggage in New York after an activist demanding a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday blocked the road leading to one of the largest and busiest airports in the country.
The video shows protesters joining hands to create a line blocking traffic while holding signs calling for a free Palestine and chanting “From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.”
Port Authority police are seen arresting protesters, putting them on an airport bus and detaining them.
Thousands of police officers, along with a combination of robots, drones and detection dogs, are expected to patrol the Times Square area to ensure the security of the event.