Anti-ICE agitators busted at NYC protest include Fordham grad student, standup comic, Columbia student editor
Anti‑ICE demonstrators in Lower Manhattan were stopped earlier this weekend, and the police identified a handful of key participants. Among them were a graduate assistant from Fordham University, a stand‑up comic, and a former editor at Columbia University’s student magazine, The _Post_, as the outlet reported.
Two of the protester’s actions attracted additional attention from law enforcement. Both were also charged with assaulting officers who responded to the unrest.
Natalia Arai, 37, is a makeup artist and a master’s student in social work at Fordham. She allegedly kicked a garbage can at an off‑duty NYPD officer when the police warned a crowd of about 150 people that they were blocking traffic on Canal Street and Broadway. The bin landed on the officer’s left leg, leaving him with a cut that required medical attention. Authorities filed a criminal complaint against Arai, charging her with second‑degree assault and resisting arrest. According to her LinkedIn profile, she works part‑time as a social‑work fellow in New York Public Schools, where she “addresses conflict through healing‑centered dialogue.” She has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Asif Ali, 26, faces a similar felony assault charge after allegedly pushing a wooden pallet into a cop’s foot at the intersection of Centre and Hester. The pallet caused pain and bruising, as noted in the complaint.
Eli Sairs, 40, a stand‑up comic, was arrested for allegedly throwing a garbage bag filled with hard objects at officers and civilians at Centre and Howard. Prosecutors say the incident occurred amid a crowd that gathered in the area. The reporter who covered this story previously covered Sairs’s arrest in 2021 during a protest in the Upper East Side, sparked by the police shooting death of Daunte Wright. When the NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea criticized the disturbance, he called for the protestors to be jailed.
Symmes Cannon, 20, was taken into custody after climbing a closed parking garage with a chain‑link fence at Centre and Hester. Earlier this year, she had been arrested during protests at Columbia and Barnard universities. While she was listed as the deputy editor of Columbia Spectator’s magazine, The _Eye_, that role appears no longer on the publisher’s site.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty and were released on recognizance on Sunday. In total, 18 people were detained during the demonstration. Seven of those were given criminal court summonses, while the remaining seven received desk appearance tickets to return to court at a later date. Eleven were formally arrested, including Arai, Ali, Sairs, and Cannon.
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