UN General Assembly bringing gridlock, heavy security to NYC

The UN General Assembly will mean gridlock headaches for New Yorkers and a partial lockdown of the Big Apple amid continuing antisemitic hate crimes and tensions between Israel and City Hall.Large swaths of Midtown Manhattan will be closed to traffic and there will be a limited no-fly zone over the area when some 200 foreign dignitaries flock into the city for the annual gathering of world leaders, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday.Cops will also be kept on their toes policing protests during the international gathering, with the NYPD, FBI, Secret Service, State Department Diplomatic Security Service and United Nations police deployed throughout the metropolitan area, officials said.

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both due to attend.“Thousands of uniformed NYPD officers will be posted at and around UN headquarters all week, supported by heavy weapons teams, our aviation and harbor units, K-9, the bomb squad, NYPD’s drone team, counterterrorism officers, and other specialized units,” Tisch said.“As always, there will be security measures that you will see, and others that you will not see,” she said.City DOT issued a gridlock alert beginning Monday, with street closures around the UN, with rolling pedestrian and vehicle closures, and flight restrictions within two nautical miles of the building.Cops will also be out in force to keep an eye out for trouble and keep the peace at several planned protests that will coincide with the assembly — police said permits have been issued for at least 55 General Assembly related events.

This year’s General Assembly, which convenes at the United Nations on Tuesday and is scheduled to run through Sept.28, comes as the five boroughs continue to see a spike in antisemitic hate crimes stemming from the Oct.

7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that launched the Gaza War.Antisemitic hate crimes surged by 8% through the end of August this year compar...