New York police arrested 34 people following a pro-Palestinian protest at the Brooklyn Museum, which reported damage to some artwork and harassment of security staff by demonstrators. Hundreds of protesters marched to the museum on Friday afternoon, set up tents in the lobby and unfurled a “Free Palestine” banner from the building’s roof. Meanwhile in Paris, an environmental activist defaced a Monet painting in the Musée d’Orsay.

In New York, police officers tackled and punched some protesters during scuffles that broke out in the crowd outside the museum while some demonstrators hurled plastic bottles at officers and shouted insults. Other protesters held banners, waved Palestinian flags, and chanted boisterously on the steps of the grand, Beaux Arts museum, which is the city’s second largest.

Museum spokesperson Taylor Maatman said in a statement that the museum closed an hour early because of concerns about people’s safety and the art collections.

“Unfortunately, there was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed,” Maatman said.

The rally started Friday afternoon across the street from the Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Marchers banging drums and chanting then made their way to the museum about a mile away.

Organizers, including the group Within Our Lifetime, called on supporters to “flood” and “de-occupy” the museum, saying they wanted to take over the building until officials “disclose and divest” from any investments linked to Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Videos posted on social media showed guards at the museum trying to secure its doors against the surging crowd, and demonstrators finding other ways inside.

Within Our Lifetime posted on social media that its chair, Nerdeen Kiswani, was “targeted and violently arrested” by police.

New York City has seen hundreds of street demonstrations since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October.

The Brooklyn Museum sits at the edge of Crown Heights, which is home to one of the city’s largest communities of Orthodox Jews.

Paris

Not to be outdone, environmental activist in Paris was detained Saturday after sticking a protest sign to a Monet painting in the city’s famed Orsay Museum.

It was the latest of several actions by protesters with the group Food Riposte to target artworks in Fance in calls for action to protect food supplies from further damage to the climate. The museum, known in French as the Musée d’Orsay, is a top tourist destination and home to some of the world’s most-loved Impressionist works.

The activist targeted “Poppy Field” by Claude Monet, affixing a sticker that covered about half the painting with an apocalyptic, futuristic vision of the same scene. The group said it’s supposed to show what the field would look like in 2100, “ravaged by flames and drought,” if more action isn’t taken against climate change.

The woman was detained pending investigation, according to Paris police. It was unclear whether the incident damaged the painting. The museum did not respond to requests for comment.