Protest Held Outside Nassau Coliseum Ahead Of Roger Waters Concert

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Local officials and students from two Jewish academies protested outside Nassau Coliseum against former Pink Floyd bassist and songwriter Roger Waters, who is performing at the arena Friday and Saturday.

Hempstead Councilman Bruce Blakeman, who organized the protest, doesn't think Waters should be playing the Coliseum because the rocker backs the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

"He has a definite plan on which to delegitimatize Israel," Blakeman said.

During the protest, Blakeman also held up a picture from a Waters concert showing an inflatable pig with a Star of David on it.

"This would be considered a hate crime here in the United States," Blakeman said, adding that Waters has no place at a taxpayer-funded arena.

"I don't know what he's trying to say with this stuff but it's offensive," one student said.

"He is not a human rights fighter, he's a classic, old-fashioned anti-Semite," said Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel.

"If you're anti-Israel in general that's called anti-Semitism right there," said a student from the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County.

Waters supports economic sanctions against Israel, but denies he's anti-Semitic.

Nassau County came out against the BDS movement but by then the contract for Waters' appearance had already been signed, 1010 WINS' Roger Stern reported.