Saturday afternoon, a man who confronted a group of anti-Drag Story Hour demonstrators at a Manhattan library was detained after reportedly engaging in a scuffle with an officer monitoring the rally, according to police.
At the Midtown branch of the New York Public Library, the guy was initially confronted by a group of approximately twenty demonstrators holding posters reading “Leave our kids alone!”, “Shut it down now!” and “Respect childhood!”
“Get the f*** out!” The individual, identified by authorities as 28-year-old Chase Catapano, rants at the group. “You’re a f–king disgrace,” he said.
Catapano, of Manhattan, takes the sign out of the hands of a protester and turns to leave, but the Guardians of Divinity group follows him, as shown in the video.
The footage shows a woman guiding a young child away from the profanity-laced encounter from a few feet distant.
The clip depicts an enraged Catapano turning around only to be stopped by an NYPD officer.
Catapano is seen pushing the officer’s hand away from himself. A man is heard shouting in the video, “Be careful who you touch, he’s a police officer!”
The officer then takes Catapano into custody and leads him away. Catapano appears to struggle with police officers on the stairway later in the footage.
Catapano, who neither participated in the Drag Story Hour nor the demonstration, was charged with disorderly behaviour, harassment, attempted assault, and obstruction of government administration, according to the police.
One of the protestors stated that the gang was pleased to have ended the Drag Story Hour program early.
“They’re using our tax dollars to subsidize this,” the man informed the NJEG Media Twitter account. “As taxpayers, we have the right to determine how our money is spent. We entered and protested the drag narrative, then abruptly ended the performance. It was quite successful.”
»Man arrested during NYPL Drag Story Hour for confronting demonstrators«