Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy was arrested yesterday in New York for spray-painting over advertising put up by the anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pam Geller.
via The NY Post
An Egyptian-born activist was arrested Tuesday for spray-painting subway billboards that call enemies of Israel "savages" — amid a wave of vandalism unleashed on the inflammatory ads, which have divided the city.
Mona Eltahawy, a self-described "liberal Muslim," strolled up to one of the signs at the crowded 1/2/3 train mezzanine at the Times Square station and sprayed pink paint on the ads.
Strangers stopped and watched Eltahawy — in a bright pink coat just a few shades darker than the paint — in amazement.
But Pamela Hall, a Manhattan mom who supports the message of the ads, was so infuriated, she rushed to stop Eltahawy.
Hall tried to physically block Eltahawy, bobbing back and forth like a basketball forward while the angered activist shot bursts of paint around her.
"If you don't want paint, you should get out of my way," Eltahawy said before spraying Hall.
Hall then poked Eltahawy with her video camera stick.
That infuriated Eltahawy, who blurted out, "Fuck you!"
Eltahawy seemed stunned when an NYPD officer and an MTA cop arrived momentarily after and put cuffs on her.
Here's the complete unedited version of the altercation. Apparently Pam Hall, like thousands of others, had read Ms Eltahawy's twitter feed where Eltahawy made it well known what she was going to do, and were waiting for this moment.
