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NY Plaza Owners Evict Bench Sitters, Prompt Global Protest

5/19/2026

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Summary

Story summary

Owners of 780 Third Avenue ordered security to evict people from the New York plaza, saying it must look high-class.
A video shows an elderly couple being told to leave the bench despite a granite “welcome” engraving, where a guard said she was instructed to keep the plaza’s “beauty.”
Social-media users pledged to sit on the benches, with some traveling from Hong Kong, to assert the right to inclusive public space.

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Story summary

Owners of 780 Third Avenue ordered security to evict people from the New York plaza, saying it must look high-class.
A video shows an elderly couple being told to leave the bench despite a granite “welcome” engraving, where a guard said she was instructed to keep the plaza’s “beauty.”
Social-media users pledged to sit on the benches, with some traveling from Hong Kong, to assert the right to inclusive public space.