Hundreds of anti-vaccine mandate protesters came out at the Barclays Center — the home of the Nets — in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday in support of star player Kyrie Irving who is refusing to get vaccinated in order to play.

As we previously reported, the team has said that Irving wouldn’t be allowed to play or practice with the team until he is vaccinated. New York City requires people to be vaccinated inside indoor venues like the Center, and the team is banning him from playing any game, even road games, until he complies and gets vaccinated.

The huge crowd chanted “no vaccine mandate” and “stand with Kyrie.” Some held similar signs. There were also Gadsden flags present.

It got pretty wild. The crowd pushed through the barricades in front of the center, right up to the door, shouting “Let Kyrie play” and “My body, my choice.”

The protesters weren’t able to get in, but there was a lot of pushing of the barricades against each other, between the two sides.

“Barclays Center briefly closed its doors today in order to clear protestors from the main doors on the plaza and ensure guests could safely enter the arena,” venue officials said in a statement.

“Only ticketed guests were able to enter the building and the game proceeded according to schedule,” the statement said.

There were also Black Lives Matter New York folks there, led by Hawk Newsome. His group is not affiliated with the national BLM organization.

“We should not be forced to put anything in our bodies that we do not want,” he argued.

“We Have a Message to give and it’s our got given right to give that message” said Hawk Newsome at front of Barclay’s Center after Manti mandate protesters pushed through barricades demanding “Let Kyrie Play”
Full video https://t.co/6qAP3VZIlE pic.twitter.com/4E5Ab3cYf3

— Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) October 24, 2021

They also had the people from Teachers for Choice who have been involved in some of the big anti-mandate protests in New York. Some of them are very pro-Trump and anti-Joe Biden. They’ve chanted, “F Joe Biden,” on previous weekends. Some of them were waving the Gadsden flag.

One Trump supporter commented on how unique that confluence was — to have both Trump supporters and the BLM joining forces in this effort.

“Us, American flag waving Trump supporters, but we are out here with BLM” said one of the speakers outside of Barclay’s Center after barricades were pushed through, he also said to stop giving stage to racism to avoid division. pic.twitter.com/tY4dRVAJN9

— Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY) October 24, 2021

That’s so true. It says something about the level of concern that people have about the mandates across the political spectrum. It says how wrong such a process is. Newsome echoed what others have said — he’s not against the vaccine, but he doesn’t believe that it should be forced on anyone.