A woman protesting for Gov. Kathy Hochul at a rally in Manhattan was choked by another person in attendance Saturday night, footage shows.
The video posted by Viral News New Yorkdepicts the moments when a supporter of Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin was attacked by at least two people while protesting the governor’s campaign appearance.
Hochul, along with Bravo’s Andy Cohen, hosted an event near the Stonewall Inn.
In the video, a man in shorts and a plaid shirt can be seen choking the woman, now identified as Angelica Torres, who is wearing a black sweatshirt.
The man in the plaid shirt and the woman to his left have both been accused of physically injuring the woman in the black sweatshirt as she protested Governor Hochul’s New York rally
Tensions remain high in the final days of the New York governorship campaign between Republican Lee Zeldin and Democrat Kathy Hochul
City Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, Democrat, was also involved in the physical altercation. Hudson represents Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.
A Viral News New York person spoke to Torres, who was choking. After the incident, she claimed she “never wanted to get physical.”
‘I was here, holding my shield, and – peaceful protest, against you know, Governor Hochul, and a woman – a very tall, burly woman, I suppose, you know, might have been a man – came and took sign mine,” the outlet’s wife said.
It is unclear what led to the altercation as the start of the fight was not caught on video.
“When I was trying to get my shield back, another man came and choked me, and two other people came and prevented me from getting my shield,” she said.
Torres, who carried a sign that read “Vote them out” with pictures of Hochul and other Democrats running in November’s election, said she had no intention of doing anything other than protesting peacefully.
‘[I] I never wanted to get physical with anyone, I was just there peacefully and just holding my sign and you know they didn’t want to hear what I had to say,” she said.
Torres also spoke to FOX News on Sunday and said she was upset that she was attacked for having a disagreement.
“I was very shocked and upset that I couldn’t express my opinions openly and without violence. Crime and violence are big issues in our city,” she said.
Torres also said she sought medical attention and reported the incident to police.
Photos taken after the incident showed the man appearing to be speaking to police officers. However, it is not known if he was arrested and charged.
The woman told Viral News New York she just wanted to protest peacefully outside Hochul’s rally near the Stonewall Inn on Saturday night
Photos taken after the incident showed the unidentified man speaking to NYPD officers after the attack
The first video, showing the woman being choked, is just 24 seconds long but has nearly 300,000 views on Twitter.
Those on the social media app who saw the video were quick to respond to the incident, calling out Hochul and her supporters for the violence.
“Yet Hochul says there is no increase in crime,” said one Twitter user.
“It was awful,” one person wrote.
“Third world politics in action,” replied another.
The Saturday incident came just hours after Zeldin was confronted at his own rally by Hochul supporters who accused him of using rape to “promote his campaign”.
The group was referring to Zeldin’s decision to give a speech at the scene of a horrific West Village sex attack.
Screaming protesters waved placards daubed with messages branding Zeldin “as dangerous as Trump” as they disrupted Friday’s campaign rally.
Zeldin gave a speech at the riverside site where a day earlier a woman had been choked, raped and robbed.
Outrage over the attack grew after it was revealed that the suspect, homeless man Carl Phanor, has been arrested 25 times and is wanted for at least two other sex crimes in the city.
Demonstrators shouted over Zeldin’s campaign speech at a West Village rape scene
Phanor’s criminal past raised angry questions as to why he was free to roam the streets and allegedly launched the attack.
Zeldin hit back at the protesters on Twitter: “There is no criminal emergency.” Kathy Hochul’s people are shouting at the scene of another rape yesterday in the Big Apple.
“These protesters and their far-left, pro-criminal agenda somehow managed to dangerously set the agenda at NYC Council & Albany.”
The attack on the jogger is part of an alarming rise in crime that continues to plague New York City, where violent incidents are up almost 30 percent from a year earlier.
Zeldin said the rise in crime under Hochul’s watch meant New Yorkers were “forced to live in fear.”
Crime remains rife in the Big Apple, with violent crime up nearly 30 percent
So far this year, police have reported 1,384 rape cases in the city, up nearly 11 percent from the same period last year.
Crime attacks are also up nearly 14 percent, with 21,767 cases reported so far this year, and robberies are up more than 32 percent year-on-year.
102,914 serious crimes have been reported since the beginning of the year, compared to 78,892 for the same period in 2021, the latest NYPD data shows.
Afterwards, Zeldin said he decided to hold the event at the site of Thursday’s attack because it “would shock the local community.”
Zeldin’s rival, current governor Kathy Hochul, has been criticized for her silence on the rape
The recent outbursts at the rallies come at a critical time in the gubernatorial campaign.
With just days to go, polls by the Trafalgar Group showed that Hochul and Zeldin were almost neck and neck.
The survey yielded 48 percent of the votes for both candidates. However, in other polls, Hochul’s average lead is still about 4 percent.
A recent poll found that New York Governor Hochul and Zeldin are neck and neck in the gubernatorial race
Since winning his party’s nomination in March, Zeldin has publicized his “tough on crime” stance.
“It’s about restoring order, it’s about supporting the blue,” Zeldin told convention attendees.
“This is a rescue mission to save our state that will be successful.”
Zeldin called for a law enforcement bill that would ensure police officers have the right to self-defense.
He has also vowed to reverse criminal justice reforms passed by the Democrat-led legislature in recent years, including a 2019 law barring bail for money and pre-trial detention for most misdemeanor and nonviolent crime charges.