18 May 2024 , 18:45
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Horrifying videos show an individual climbing New York City's George Washington Bridge as a massive emergency response was called to the landmark in an attempt to safely remove them from the busy structure.
"The GWB Lower to NY has the right lane blocked due to police activity. Updates are posted when situations change," the bridge's official X page, @PANYNJ_GWB, posted at 11.56am EDT on Saturday. Just five minutes later, at 12.01pm, the account updated its initial message, writing: "The GWB Upper to NY has a delay of 30 minutes due to volume and police activity."
Throughout the next two hours, updates flooded in, increasing the time of the delay to as much as 90 minutes by 1.36pm. At 2.24pm, the account posted: "The GWB has extensive delays due to police activity. Please seek alternate route." The climber eventually surrendered to the police, ABC 7 New York reported, and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
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Video posted to the Citizen app shows a large police and emergency responder presence at the bridge (Citizen.com)It's not clear why the climber was scaling the structure, which was erected over the course of several years in the late 1920s, opening in 1931, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Reports have circulated, however, that the climber is protesting.
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What they were advocating for, if they were protesting, remains to be seen. A spokesperson for the NYPD told the New York Post: "There’s no flags, no banners, no statements in connection to any protests." They said they expect more information once the climber is in custody.
Fox 5 New York reported that the police said there's no "political aspect" to what the climber is doing, which begs the question: What, then, are they climbing the bridge for?
It wasn't immediately clear why the individual was climbing the bridge, though unconfirmed rumours of a protest were circulating (Citizen.com)According to ABC 7 New York, the bridge experienced major delays earlier in the week as the authorities monitored protests expected at the structure, shutting down a lane of traffic in both directions.
"We are working with our law enforcement partners, including NYPD, to monitor potential protest actions designed to impact operations at the Hudson River crossings, and we have deployed safety and security measures to help ensure uninterrupted operations," a spokesperson for the Port Authority told the outlet on Wednesday.
The spokesperson added: "The crossings are currently experiencing heavy commuter traffic volume." The crossings mentioned are every crossing of the Hudson River the Port Authority oversees, though the spokesperson was more specifically referencing the George Washington Bridge.
Traffic was delayed for up to an hour on Wednesday morning, it was reported, with commuters stranded on the structure or on either side of it. It is one of two major Hudson River crossings between New York and New Jersey in and out of New York City, with the other being the Holland Tunnel in lower Manhattan.