Two climbers scale Empire State Building antenna and unfurl banner
Apparent proposal follows as NYPD monitors with drone and helicopter, landmark security response ends in arrests and street closures
Images
Two people display a banner atop the Empire State Building in the Manhattan borough of New York on Wednesday. Photograph: Adam Gray/Reuters
theguardian.com
Empire State Building climbers unfurl banner then stage proposal, police arrest two after reaching antenna above public areas, security questions return to New York landmark
Two people climbed to the pinnacle of the Empire State Building in Manhattan on Wednesday and unfurled a large banner reading: “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” The Guardian reported. The pair, dressed in black and appearing to be masked, reached the antenna area above the sections open to the public, prompting a police response that included a drone and a helicopter, according to local media.
Shortly after 12:30pm, the two climbed down to a slightly lower platform while still holding the antenna. There, one person got down on one knee and appeared to propose; the pair then hugged and kissed. New York police said no injuries were reported, and the NYPD later recovered the banner. Street closures were put in place near 5th Avenue and 34th Street because of police activity.
How they accessed the final stages of the building remains unclear in the reporting, but the episode fits a familiar pattern for major landmarks: a small number of people need only a brief window to turn architecture into a stage. The cost is then paid in lockdowns, emergency deployments and after-the-fact reviews of access controls — a cycle that repeats because it is easier to add perimeter restrictions than to make every internal point tamper-proof.
The Guardian said the climbers appeared to be Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, Russian “rooftoppers” known for similar stunts in other cities and featured in the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story. Nikolau posted on Instagram about being at the Empire State Building and referenced a city webcam, later sharing photos from the spire that included an apparent engagement ring.
Police have not confirmed the identities of the two, and charges had not yet been announced at the time of the report. What is confirmed is the sequence: they reached the top, displayed the message, descended to a platform, and came down only after the cameras had already found them.