![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/principia-scientific.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/NYC-vax-protests-Oct-2021-Enrico-Trigoso-The-Epoch-Times.jpg?resize=450%2C299&ssl=1\")
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Written by The Epoch Times<\/p>\n
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New Yorkers gathered for the\u00a0second time<\/a>\u00a0this month at Foley Square in Manhattan to protest vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n New York teachers and other Department of Education staffers were mandated to take the vaccine by city authorities.<\/p>\n The mandate was supposed to take effect on Sept. 27, but was\u00a0temporarily blocked<\/a>\u00a0by a federal judge on Sept. 24. However, a federal appeals panel\u00a0ruled in favor<\/a>\u00a0of the mandate hours before it was scheduled to begin.<\/p>\n The Epoch Times talked to some of the organizers of the protest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe movement is growing, my numbers of followers keep going up and I have more people contacting me, asking me for help,<\/em>\u201d said Jo Rose, co-organizer. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna continue to grow because there are people that are willing to lose their livelihood in order to keep their freedom.<\/em>\u00a0We\u2019re gonna bring more powerful people that I can\u2019t name yet that are going to come [from] out of state to help us out here in New York.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Peters, a co-organizer of the rally, believes that the vaccine mandates are not just about health.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a turning point, a moment of truth for all of us. They\u2019re really trying to push this agenda forward and more and more people are seeing, clear as day, where this is going,<\/em>\u201d Peters said. \u201cThis is not just about health, it\u2019s about control it\u2019s about surveillance, its about tyranny, and restructuring our entire economy, health system, and education system.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInstagram is shutting us down, we had 17,000 people following us, and our account got shut down,<\/em>\u201d Peters added.<\/p>\n He said that they started a new Instagram account and bounced back in two weeks to 7 or 8,000 followers.<\/p>\n In a Sept. 25 statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said that the state might resort to\u00a0using the National Guard<\/a>\u00a0members to replace health care workers who haven\u2019t taken the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes you wonder if that was the plan all along,<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lisa Eden (below) is an award-winning opera singer who said she suffered from a vaccine injury 23 years ago.<\/p>\n Image: Enrico Trigoso\/The Epoch Times<\/p>\n Eden told The Epoch Times that she has a bona fide medical exemption from a licensed physician from New York and can\u2019t get the vaccine based on her previous medical condition, but the officials in charge of the opera houses and the unions didn\u2019t take it into consideration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically were really held captive, this medical fascism has infiltrated every aspect of live performing arts, because all of the theaters for live entertainment were shut down. And I really believe that was part of the agenda to launch the passports. And so artists suffered greatly because we\u2019ve literally been unemployed now since the beginning of this,<\/em>\u201d Eden said. \u201cA lot of artists, I believe, acquiesced because they\u2019ve already been forced into unemployment. Whereas most other sectors were able to make accommodations to work from home, this kind of thing. We were literally forced into house arrest and weren\u2019t allowed to work.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, New York officials\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that the state has no constitutional obligation to grant religious exemptions to the COVID-19\u00a0vaccine mandate<\/a>\u00a0for healthcare staff.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/principia-scientific.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Lisa-Eden-450x299.jpg?resize=450%2C299&ssl=1\")
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