Hannah Einbinder and Susan Sarandon detained at protest ahead of Netanyahu UN speech

Hannah Einbinder and Susan Sarandon were detained on 24 September during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside the United Nations in New York, Variety reported.

The demonstration took place ahead of Netanyahu's address to the U.N. General Assembly, the annual gathering of world leaders. Photos of Einbinder and Sarandon being led away in handcuffs circulated on social media before he began speaking, according to the same report. It was not confirmed at the time of reporting whether the two actors had been arrested or simply detained.

Hundreds of people gathered on First Avenue near 39th Street, close to the U.N. headquarters, PIX11 reported. Elected officials were among those taken into custody, the station said. Dozens of people were arrested in total during the protest, which called for Netanyahu's arrest, the New York Post reported.

Actor Cynthia Nixon was also among those arrested near the United Nations during the protest, according to the Post. Whistleblower Chelsea Manning was among those detained outside the building ahead of the speech, Newsweek reported.

The four actors had been linked in the days before the protest. Sarandon, Einbinder, Nixon and musician Michael Stipe had joined a call by human rights group B'Tselem to stop what it termed Israel's Elimination Project, in a video shared on 17 September.

Inside the Assembly hall, Netanyahu opened his speech by addressing delegates who had left the room. "Where were you when the Iranian tyrants butchered and maimed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian civilians?" he asked, according to Variety. During the same speech he criticised New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and streamer Hasan Piker.

The General Debate of the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly runs from 22 to 28 September, with formal proceedings opening on Tuesday, 22 September and continuing through Saturday, 26 September before concluding on Monday, 28 September.