It’s getting harder to be a protester in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s New York.
The Democratic governor recently signed a new law creating buffer zones that restricts demonstrations around houses of worship. Last year, she created a new criminal charge aimed at protesters who wear masks.
And now, longtime activists who recently staged sit-ins at the state Capitol say they were hit with misdemeanor charges — higher than the traditional disorderly conduct violations that the State Police dispense to Capitol demonstrators.
“They're trying to criminalize protest in a lot of different ways,” said Jonathan Westin, director of the Climate Organizing Hub, an advocacy organization.
Hochul said she had nothing to do with the higher charges against protesters. But she defended her push for the masking and buffer zone restrictions, saying she prioritizes public safety.
“My responsibility as governor is to keep people safe,” she said. “There are people who want to be arrested because they want to be arrested. This is what performance protest is all about.”
Westin was present this year for three demonstrations at the Capitol on March 25, April 21 and May 5. People from various groups protested Hochul’s proposal to roll back New York’s 2019 climate law.
She argued that meeting the state’s emissions-cutting mandates would increase costs for residents. Demonstrators said urgent action is needed to prevent climate change, and that the law should be implemented to reduce costs in the long term.
In March, protesters sat outside Hochul’s Capitol office but weren’t disturbed. They eventually moved to the other side of the building near the exit that top officials like Hochul use to reach their cars. State Troopers arrested and charged people – including Raj Goyle, a candidate for state comptroller – with trespass violations, according to court records.
“I think it was a very important signal to send,” Goyle said. He said he was processed in a conference room and released with a ticket.
Things changed in the latter demonstrations. Protesters again sat outside the main entrance to Hochul’s Capitol office, but were arrested by the State Police and charged with obstructing governmental administration – a misdemeanor.
Pete Sikora, a senior adviser to the advocacy group New York Communities for Change, was arrested on April 21 with Westin and 16 other people. Westin and another 15 people were arrested and charged with the same misdemeanor on May 5.
Mark Mishler, a longtime civil rights lawyer who represented the protesters, said they were held longer by police, who took fingerprints and mugshots at a substation outside the Capitol.
“It is a deviation from this long-standing practice to start charging people with criminal offenses,” Mishler said.
State Police spokesperson Beau Duffy said the charges were “based on the conduct observed and its impact on governmental operations. New York State Police have utilized this charge previously in connection with Capitol protests when circumstances supported it.”
Prosecutors downgraded the charges and then moved to dismiss them provided the accused demonstrators stayed out of trouble, according to Mishler.
Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon said his office never declines to prosecute protesters but doesn’t have a set policy on how to handle arrests at the Capitol. The Democratic DA added that there are “competing interests” at play at the Capitol, which he called a “unique place.”
“On the one hand, you've got the safety and the security of the elected officials … you've got the safety and security of the State Police,” he said. “You also have this idea that I don't want to discourage protest. I don't want to discourage citizens from having their voices heard by elected officials.”
When protesters do get within shouting distance of the governor, she’s had mixed reactions. Speaking at a political conference in San Juan last November, Hochul told people shouting “tax the rich” that, “I’m the type of person — the more you push me, the more I’m not going to do what you want.”
During a rally in Manhattan in April, when people shouted during a colloquy with the press, the governor waved to them.
“Everybody has a right to protest. I have been in my fair share of protests,” she said. “They have a right to do what they’re doing here today – that’s totally fine with me.”
The governor has twice advanced new restrictions on protests in response to antisemitic outbursts in New York City. In 2025, she attempted to restrict people from covering their faces in public with intent to harass others. Lawmakers objected to the bill’s language and the governor settled for creating a harsher penalty for people who wear masks while committing other crimes.
This year Hochul pushed to create protest-free buffer zones around houses of worship. The proposal came in response to a demonstration last year outside the Park East Synagogue as it hosted Nefesh B’Nefesh, a group that facilitates immigration from North America to Israel.
Some protesters chanted “Death to the IDF,” a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, and one person held a sign that said “Israel has no right to exist” behind metal barricades near the entrance.
The budget included language making it a crime when someone “knowingly or intentionally engages in a course of conduct that places [an] individual in reasonable fear for their safety” within 50 feet of the entrance to a house of worship.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the law “needless, dangerous and an affront to our democracy.”
“This law risks chilling activism at a time when the voices of New Yorkers are more needed than ever, which will be a gift to the Trump administration,” she said.
The Anti-Defamation League cheered the new law, saying, “New Yorkers of every faith can now enter and exit their house of worship without fearing intimidation or harassment.”
Hochul signed the bill just before marching in the Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue.
“We’re going to make sure that you’re protected,” she said. “Hate against one is hate against all.”
