Police apprehended a man near Rockefeller Plaza’s famous Christmas tree in New York City on Monday after he allegedly shouted anti-police slurs while carrying a gas can, matches and book “Sons of Hama,” according to the New York Police Department.
A Fox News employee alerted police to the man when he shouted anti-police slurs and threw a bottle, and officers intercepted him on his way to the crowds gathered near the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, just outside of NBC’s world headquarters, NBC News reports.
“At the time of his arrest, the man was carrying a red 2-gallon gasoline can half-filled with a fluid that smelled like gasoline as well as matches and a book called ‘Sons of Hama,’” according to an NYPD statement.
The man, identified as 38-year-old Bronx resident Yuriy Alterman, allegedly told police, “Sometimes, you guys do things that make others do things even though that’s not who we are.”
Alterman also allegedly asked police “Have you seen the news today?” though it’s unclear what he was referring to, according to the news site.
Alterman was arrested for misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a weapon and disorderly conduct.
An early version of the story stated Alterman carried the book titled “Son of Hamas,” which centers on Mosab Hassan Yousef’s role as the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder of Hamas. “Son of Hamas” chronicles Mosab Yousef’s life inside Hamas, as well as his decision to turn away from the terrorist organization.
NBC later clarified that the book in Alterman’s possession was titled “Sons of Hama,” which yields no search results online.
A translated article that appeared in the weekly Syrian nonprofit news website Enab Baladi in 2014 referenced “Sons of Hama” in the context of a struggle for the city of Hama, Syria in 1982 that resulted in the “tragedy of the century” – an effort by the Syrian government to exterminate the Muslim Brotherhood from the city by massacring of “tens of thousands of the inhabitants” over 27 days.
The 2014 Enab Baladi article, published on the 32nd anniversary of the massacre, featured an account from Attaf Tarkawi, also known as Sheikh Salih Al-Hamwi, the military leader of the “sons of Hama” brigade.
“It was a very harsh time in 1982. There was nothing anyone could do but stay at home and wait for their death. For the first time in my life I saw people herded like sheep and taken to the slaughter in complete submission. They came into our area and rounded all the men there, sending some to the 47th Brigade, while the rest were summarily executed. That was one of the most horrifying sights; to see all these bodies on top of each other swimming in their blood,” Sheikh Salih said.
“A quarter of the city’s inhabitants were dead or missing. Not a single house remained unaffected by this great calamity. In some areas there was total carnage. A great number of women had been raped or dishonoured. This continued after the massacre, when the widows of the martyrs were told to come forward and claim compensation for the loss of their husbands – killed by the regime- in order to feed their orphans.”
A Facebook page for Yuriy Alterman does little to clarify his intent at Rockefeller Center, or the book allegedly recovered from him during the incident Monday.
The page features a banner of skulls and a sketch of a man with his fist raised as a profile picture. The page states Alterman lives in Brooklyn, is in a civil union, and is self-employed.
Posts include an odd mix of American popular culture – such as a Family Guy pinball game and Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement – and foreign political stories and food related posts like “5-Star Shrimp Scampi,” and “Chef Robert Irvine’s Top Muscle-Building Recipes.”
Other posts included topics like the “National Cryptologic Museum,” “Guitar Idol Live Final 2016,” the “Israeli Air Force,” and L.L. Cool J.
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