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A Manhattan man is facing charges in connection with a violent altercation at the New York Public Library, in which he clashed with protesters who were boycotting a drag reading session for children, as well as an undercover police officer who had been assigned to maintain order.
The incident occurred on Saturday at the main branch of New York City’s illustrious library system, when children aged 3 to 9 were gathering to attend a ‘Drag Story Hour’ program led by library authorities and local drag queens.
Members of a local conservative group, who gathered as the children were safely separated in another room, voiced unwelcome disapproval of the event, as they did for previous such processions that have occurred across the country.
Chase Catapano, age 28, is captured on video encouraging demonstrators by screaming slurs and disparaging gestures towards parents carrying posters with slogans such as “Leave our children alone,” “Shut it down,” and “Respect childhood.”
Eventually, the conflict becomes physical after the diminutive instigator, who has a history of civil disobedience, takes a sign from the hands of one protester and places his hands on the officer in plain clothes.
Catapano was arrested and charged with disorderly behavior, harassment, attempted assault, and obstructing government administration. A few feet away, a woman can be seen escorting a little child away from the chaos.
A Manhattan man is facing charges in connection with a violent altercation at the New York Public Library, in which he clashed with protesters who were boycotting a drag reading session for children, as well as an undercover police officer who had been assigned to maintain order.
“Get the hell outta here!” Catapano’s yelling can be heard in footage of the confrontation released to social media on Saturday evening, which depicts the stalemate between the short guy and the nonviolent demonstrators.
Catapano is seen initiating the incident by hurling insults and vulgar language at the parents, who, other from grasping their signs, appear to largely laugh off their young opponent.
However, the incident quickly intensifies as Catapano becomes increasingly disturbed.
‘You’re a f***ing disgrace!’ he can be heard shouting at the group of fewer than a dozen parents, who were separated by several library employees who created a makeshift line to maintain order.
In a room just down the hall, children attending the drag event, which was advertised as being for children ages 3 to 9 on the NYPL website, were gathered with their parents and library employees, who were recorded using objects to block the entrance.
The event was presided over by drag queen Paradise, who was presented to children as a ‘trans and gender non-conforming rainbow unicorn princex’ on the library’s website.
Staff members noted that the purpose of the event was to “celebrate gender diversity and all forms of difference to foster empathy and give children the confidence to express themselves in whatever way they feel most at ease.”
Catapano, according to the police, was neither attending the Drag Story Hour nor participating in the demonstration, but he was present in the library hallway alongside the concerned staffers, demonstrators, parents, and children as the event struggled to begin.
Unbeknownst to Catapano, however, several officers deployed to observe the demonstration were inconspicuously stationed throughout the mob.
However, when the suspect’s verbal and physical taunts against demonstrators grew more evident and aggressive, Catapano rapidly came under police observation.
Catapano, of Manhattan, pulls a sign out of the hands of a Guardians of Divinity demonstrator and aggressively hurls it at other members of the group, as captured in a video of the event published by NJEG Media on Saturday.
The demonstrator, who was holding a banner reading “leave our children alone,” does not react and even laughs at the provocateur.
As Catapano walks away yelling, “You’re a f**king disgrace!” and other expletives, he is confronted by a considerably larger man in a black winter coat, subsequently revealed to be a New York City Police Department detective.
The officer appears to issue a warning to Catapano, who answers by batting his arms away and removing himself from the scene.
During the exchange, a stubborn Catapano can be heard saying the detective, “I don’t give a f**k who you are,” before the officer, apparently seeking to prevent the situation from escalating further, grabs Catapano by his sweatshirt.