A female protester was choked at a rally for New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday night.
The protester was counter-protesting the rally and held a “vote them out” sign featuring Hochul and other New York Democrats wearing devil horns, was seen on video being choked by a man after the two were involved in a scuffle.
The twenty-four-second clip taken by an independent photographer does not show how the altercation started but begins with the man and Democratic city Councilwoman Crystal Hudson holding the protester’s arms. The man then lets go of the protester’s arm and grabs her by the neck, choking her. A few seconds later he lets her go and the protester can be seen shoving Hudson.
Hudson addressed the incident on Twitter, saying that she was trying to “break up a tussle.”
The protester was treated by EMS at the scene but it is unclear if she suffered any serious injuries. She told Viral News NY that the fight began when someone took her signs. She said she was protesting “peacefully.”
“I was here holding my sign … peaceful protest, against you know, Gov. Hochul, and a woman — a very large heavyset woman, I’m assuming, you know, might have been a man — came and took my sign,” the protester said in a video posted to Twitter. “As I was trying to retrieve my sign, there was another man that came and choked me, and there were two other people that were coming and preventing me from trying to get my sign.
The rally was held near the landmark Stonewall Inn in Manhattan. It was attended by Bravo TV Host Andy Cohen and focused on LGBTQ voters. According to the independent photographer who filmed the incident in question, the protester is a member of the LGBTQ community.
Hochul is set for another rally on Sunday afternoon in Yonkers. President Biden is scheduled to be at that event. Hochul is attempting to fend off Republican Representative Lee Zeldin who, while still behind by 7.4 points according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, has been gaining fast. In August, Zeldin was behind by 18 points after winning the Republican Primary.