{"id":59099,"date":"2025-12-03T00:07:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/59099\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T00:07:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T00:07:04","slug":"anti-ice-agitators-busted-at-nyc-protest-include-fordham-grad-student-standup-comic-columbia-student-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/59099\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-ICE agitators busted at NYC protest include Fordham grad student, standup comic, Columbia student editor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The agitators busted at an anti-ICE protest in<\/a> Lower Manhattan earlier this weekend include a Fordham University graduate assistant, a standup comic and an editor at Columbia University\u2019s student magazine, The Post can reveal.<\/p>\n

Two of the anti-ICE protesters are also accused of assaulting NYPD cops who responded to the mayhem, according to police and prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalia Arai, 37 \u2014 a makeup artist and masters of social work student at Fordham University, according to her social media \u2014\u00a0kicked a garbage can at a cop when the NYPD<\/a> warned the 150-strong crowd to stop blocking traffic at Canal Street and Broadway Saturday afternoon, according to police and a criminal complaint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalia Arai, 37, and Asif Ali, 26, were both busted for assaulting cops during the Saturday mayhem, authorities said. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Police say Arai, above, kicked a garbage can at a cop. Natalia Arai\/Instagram<\/p>\n

The trash bin hit the officer in the left leg and he was treated for a cut and pain, cops said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest, police said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to her LinkedIn, she is also a part-time social work fellow in New York Public Schools, where she \u201caddresses conflict through healing-centered dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Asif Ali, 26, faces the same felony assault charge for allegedly pushing a wooden pallet into a cop\u2019s foot at Centre and Hester streets, causing pain and bruising, according to the complaint filed against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Symmes Cannon was arrested after climbing a parking garage closed to the public. CanaryMission.org<\/p>\n

Eli Sairs, 40, a standup comic, was busted for allegedly throwing a garbage bag throwing hard objects at cops at Centre and Howard streets \u2013 as multiple officers and civilians gathered in the area, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Sairs was previously busted in 2021 during a wild Upper East Side protest over the police shooting death of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, The Post reported at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That mayhem drew an impassioned response <\/a>from then-NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea, who demanded that the rioters be locked up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m past asking,\u201d Shea told reporters at the time.<\/p>\n

At least two of them cuffed had previous protest-related arrests. William Farrington<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually demanding at this point. They need to go to jail. They need to be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Symmes Cannon, 20, was arrested when she allegedly climbed a parking garage that was closed off to the public with a chain-link fence at Centre and Hester streets, prosecutors said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cannon was previously arrested last year during protests at Columbia and Barnard universities,\u00a0 according to The Washington Free Beacon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was previously listed as the deputy editor of the Columbia Spectator\u2019s weekly magazine, The Eye, but that page appears to have been removed, the outlet reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each of the protesters pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance Sunday. William Farrington<\/p>\n

All four pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance, records show.<\/p>\n

In total, 18 people were taken into custody during the demonstration \u2013 with seven of them released with criminal court summonses, law enforcement sources said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eleven were formally arrested \u2013 including Arai, Ali, Sairs, Cannon \u2013 with the seven remaining issued desk appearance tickets to return to court at a later date, the sources said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The agitators busted at an anti-ICE protest in Lower Manhattan earlier this weekend include a Fordham University graduate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3283,2035,359,57,9,56,63,65,64,4648,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-59099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-arrests","9":"tag-ice","10":"tag-lower-manhattan","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-protests","18":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}