Worshipers attending Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral got the scare of their lives when a band of unruly protesters disrupted the event.
“I thought they were going to blow themselves up,” worshiper Carol Forester, 50, confessed.
A group of six animal rights protesters abruptly leaped up from a pew in the middle of the service and shouted, “Easter is a time for love! No more shedding animal blood!” while holding up signs of animals pleading for their lives.
About 20 minutes into the Rev. Damian O’Connell’s noon Mass, protester Jacob Martin, 23, rose out of his seat in the center of the church and started to walk down the aisle while shouting into a bullhorn that “only the devil” could create “animals capable of love and joy just so humans can make them suffer and die.”
Martin, who is a former University of North Carolina student and identifies as a Christian, also had a camera strapped to his chest, which worshippers believed was an explosive.
Martin was arrested and charged with interrupting a religious service, according to police.
Police and security promptly rushed over and hauled Martin out the door while the remaining protesters followed with signs of pigs, chickens and cows that read, “Will You Let Me Live?”
“Ham is a big thing on Easter, so that’s why we decided to bring those voices to the public,” explained protester Raffaella Ciavatta, 31, who also organized a protest outside Chick-fil-A’s grand opening in New York City last fall.
Meanwhile, O’Connell recited a prayer for the protesters, saying how “Pope Francis calls us to interact peacefully with those who oppose us.”
The disturbance came about two hours after Cardinal Timothy Dolan celebrated the 10:15 a.m. Mass there.