Father reports son for vandalism at Central Park WWI Memorial during Anti-Israel protest

A teenager who allegedly helped desecrate a World War I memorial in Central Park earlier this week was handed over to police by his father on Thursday night and charged with multiple crimes.

The 16-year-old anti-Israel protester — who allegedly spray-painted “Gaza” on the memorial honoring Americans who bravely fought in World War I — has been charged with third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, and making graffiti, a misdemeanor, The New York Post reported. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry posted a blurred photo of the teenager in handcuffs after his father had turned him in.

“The despicable vandalism we saw earlier this week on the WWI Memorial will not be ignored, and will not go unpunished,” Daughtry wrote. “One of the culprits was placed in handcuffs today thanks to the World’s Greatest Detectives. This isn’t simply juvenile hijinks- it’s an act of desecration that undermines the freedoms our heroes fought and died for.”

The despicable vandalism we saw earlier this week on the WWI Memorial will not be ignored, and will not go unpunished. One of the culprits was placed in handcuffs today thanks to the World’s Greatest Detectives. This isn’t simply juvenile hijinks- it’s an act of desecration that… pic.twitter.com/2R8uzssIqD

— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) May 10, 2024

Police sources told the Post that the 16-year-old has no prior arrests and attends Tottenville High School, which is located on Staten Island.

A group of anti-America and anti-Israel protesters gathered around the World War I memorial in Central Park on Monday during the “Day of Rage” protests, which saw around 1,000 demonstrators rally in New York City on Holocaust Remembrance Day. During the organized protest, an American flag was burned at the base of the World War I memorial while some demonstrators plastered the American soldiers featured on the memorial with stickers that read “Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine.”

Video of the protesters defacing the memorial and burning an American flag showed no signs of police presence at the memorial as many NYPD officers were dispatched to prevent anti-Israel protesters from getting close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where A-list celebrities attended the Met Gala on Monday night.

Over two dozen protesters were arrested by the NYPD on Monday, according to Spectrum News. One of those arrested was 35-year-old Manolo De Los Santos, a career agitator who has spent time in Cuba, the Post reported. De Los Santos is the leader of the radical nonprofit group The People’s Forum (TPF), which encouraged anti-Israel demonstrators to recreate “the summer of 2020” when George Floyd demonstrations turned into violent riots in many cities across the country, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

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The Post reported that following his arrest, De Los Santos was only hit with a court summons, meaning he is unlikely to face any punishment for his participation in the Manhattan demonstrations.