Foreign visitors to New York City last week had an unexpected but quintessentially American experience to add to their must-see lists.
Tourists in the Big Apple were treated to a close-up look at the right to free speech in action as dozens of protests against police violence snaked through the city’s streets, punctuated by brief “die-ins” at stores, highways and intersections.
“The fact that people are mobilising is a great thing,” said Amine Lazreg, a 24-year-old from Montreal who said he had marched in a demonstration.
“This type of protest is for social justice – I don't know anyone who would go against that.”
After three nights of demonstrations, many of the foreigners interviewed in bustling Times Square last weekend said they were generally sympathetic to the protesters’ cause.
Lazreg, who took refuge from the rainy weather in a busy coffee shop near the interaction where thousands had stopped traffic, said the protests highlight a racial divide in the United States that is often invisible from abroad.
Fadia Redovane, 24, who works in finance in Paris, agreed that many foreigners do not realize the extent of racial tensions in the US.
“I already knew there was racism and police abuse their power,” said Redovane.
While thousands of protesters were storming Times Square, trying to crash the Rockefeller Center tree-lighting ceremony and blocking the Brooklyn Bridge, tourists were seen taking photos and some even joined the demonstrators.
Sabrina Chikh, a 19-year-old from Munich, Germany, watched the demonstrations on television.
She said she was disheartened by the protests in a country that she had considered to be the world's most open-minded and racially diverse.
“When you hear that people of one race get killed for no reason, it is shocking,” said Chikh, while sheltering from rain under an awning outside a chain restaurant.
Tim Tompkins, head of the business-promoting Times Square Alliance said tourism does not seem to be affected by the protests.
He had not heard of any complaints about the demonstrations, which he said have fit into the often chaotic scene that unfolds in Times Square most days.
“It's just a place where those things happen,” Tompkins said.
Some 54 million tourists visited New York City last year, with about 20 per cent of those traveling internationally, according to tourism marketing group NYC & Company. December is one of the busiest tourism seasons for the city.