While A-listers dazzled on the red carpet at Monday’s Met Gala (May 5), chaos erupted just steps away as pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police and attempted to storm the event in New York City. As the star-studded gala got underway at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, picket signs and anti-Israel slogans filled the streets, with hundreds of demonstrators gathering in a bid to disrupt fashion’s biggest night of the year.

In new footage, protesters attempted to push past barricades near the venue, prompting swift action from NYPD officers. One demonstrator was seen pushing a member of the press as tensions boiled over and onlookers tried to intervene. Counter-protesters soon arrived, waving Israeli flags and singing Am Yisrael Chai, a Hebrew anthem meaning the people of Israel will live, as they faced off against the pro-Palestine marchers outside the glamorous event.

This year’s violent scenes echoed those of 2024, when a similar protest saw over 1,000 marchers blocked by police just before reaching the museum.

Videos of the protests soon began circulating on social media, with clips of demonstrators setting fire to an American flag near the 107th Infantry Memorial all over X – formerly known as Twitter. In another clip, at least one protester torched Old Glory while others graffitied the base of the statue with the word Gaza in large black letters.

In other snaps, protesters were seen plastering the bronze soldier figures with Palestinian flag stickers bearing the slogans ‘Stop the Genocide. End the apartheid. Free Palestine’. Some even climbed atop the statue, waving Palestinian flags and draping them over the memorial.

According to organizers, the demonstration was part of a wider effort to protest in support of Rafah. Protesters marched up Madison Avenue, removing barricades that blocked access to 5th Avenue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chants of “It’s called, Divest! We will not stop. We will not rest!” echoed through Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

As stars like Kim Kardashian, Zendaya, and Cardi B made their way up the famous steps, the protests continued nearby. Some demonstrators set off smoke bombs and flares, while others evaded police by weaving through side streets and sidewalks before looping back toward Park Avenue.

The NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG) was deployed to contain the chaos and eventually redirected the protest away from the Met.

The crowd, part of a “Day of Rage” protest organized by the Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime, had trekked north on Fifth Avenue — blocking traffic along the way — before officers stopped them at the East 79th Street Transverse in Central Park.

Despite setting their sights on the glitzy event — which has long been expected to be the target of demonstrations — the demonstrators could not reach the iconic art museum.