A group of protesters, including a 9-year-old girl, was reportedly removed by police from the Museum of Natural History for not having their vaccine cards.
Videos of the incident have gone viral on Twitter and Instagram. The protesters can be seen being escorted out of the museum by NYPD officers.
As they walk away, a man is heard yelling from the stairs and those filming follow the police. One person can be heard saying “you are traumatizing a little child”. Another said “this is fu**ing disgusting”.
While being escorted to a separate car, the girl can be seen crying. Some people filming follow them, yelling about child abuse and traumatizing the girl.
Before the video ends, one man asks “what kind of future do we want for our children?” He then says “just because she refused to show her papers … of her experimental gene therapy”.
Oliya Scootercaster, a freelance journalist, shared the story on Twitter with photos and videos. She reported that the “mother of the child was placed under arrest, and the child was taken in a separate NYPD car, the child did not appear to be under arrest.”
Scootercaster added that approximately “2 hours prior to the arrests, as Protesters were inside the museum, the front entrance was closed. A man was trying to go in, but was stopped”.
The video of protesters being removed from the museum was also shared on Instagram by artist Jimmy Levy. He reported that “Joy, one of the incredible freedom fighters was denied the bathroom because she didn’t have the you know what. Mitch, another brave man in the group was forced to pee in a bottle”.
Levy noted that “The mother of 9 year old Jayla was arrested & they detained Jayla and took her in a separate car but freed her at the station while her mom was inside”.
He also shared a video of Jayla reportedly exiting the police station. “We are so proud of you Jayla!
Stay strong for all of us! She is doing ok, I just spoke to her incredible mom Maria! Everyone else is ok too!” he captioned the video.