Far-left activists hijack Zeldin speech to accuse him of capitalizing on rape in West Village

Woke activists have accused New York governor candidate Lee Zeldin of using rape to 'promote his campaign' after he delivered a speech at the scene of an horrific sex attack in the West Village.

Screaming protesters waved boards daubed with messages which branded Zeldin 'as dangerous as Trump' as they disrupted the campaign event on Friday.

Zeldin, who's vying to replace New York's Democrat governor Kathy Hochul, delivered a speech at the riverside location where a woman was choked, raped and robbed a day earlier.

Outrage over the attack grew after it emerged the suspect, homeless man Carl Phanor, has 25 prior arrests and was also wanted for at least two other sex crimes in the city.

Protesters screamed over Zeldin's campaign speech at the scene of a rape in the West Village

Zeldin was accused of capitalizing on rape but rival Hochul has been criticized for her silence

Phanor's criminal past prompted furious questions about why he was free to prowl the streets and allegedly launch the attack.

But some anti-Zeldin protesters were incensed by his decision to campaign at the scene.

One shouted 'there is no crime emergency here' and held aloft a board with the words: 'Zeldin uses rape to promote his campaign'.

'There is a hate emergency, there is a bigotry emergency,' the protester shouted.

Zeldin hit back on Twitter: 'There is no crime emergency' Kathy Hochul's people scream out at the site of yet another rape yesterday in the Big Apple.

'These protestors & their far-left, pro-criminal agenda have somehow managed to dangerously set the agenda in the NYC Council & Albany.'

One protester claimed 'there is no crime emergency' in New York, despite stats to the contrary

Outrage over the rape grew after it emerged the suspect, Carl Phanor, has a long criminal past

Phanor in court on Friday over the rape on Pier 64 in the West Village on Thursday morning

Phanor in court on Friday over the rape on Pier 64 in the West Village on Thursday morning

Zeldin's rival, current governor Kathy Hochul, has been criticized for her silence about the rape

Zeldin delivered a campaign speech at New York's Pier 45, the scene of the rape a day earlier

Zeldin also briefly went off script during his speech to accuse the protesters of supporting politicians and policies that are soft on criminals.   

The attack on the jogger is part of an alarming rise in crime that continues to plague New York City, where violent incidents are up nearly 30 percent compared to last year.

So far this year, police have reported 1,384 cases of rape in the city, up nearly 11 percent from the same time last year.

Felony assaults are also up by nearly 14 percent, with 21,767 cases reported so far this year, and robberies are up more than 32 percent compared to last year.

There have been 102,914 serious offenses reported since the beginning of the year, compared with 78,892 in the same period of 2021, the latest NYPD data reveals.

Speaking after, Zeldin said he chose to hold the event at the scene of Thursday's attack because of the 'impact in shocking the local community'.

Zeldin said New Yorkers want to see politicians talk about making 'streets and subways safer'

A map shows the scene of the attack and how Phanor tried to use the victim's credit card after

Zeldin said rising crime under Hochul's watch meant New Yorkers were 'forced to live in fear'

He added: 'Over the course of the last 24 hours, once again New York City is shocked, is rocked by what happened.

'What they want to see actually is everybody - every elected official, every candidate - everybody should be talking about everything they can possibly do to be able to make the streets and subways safer.

'It shouldn't be some type of anomaly, or a unique trait that somebody is talking about a rape that took place here yesterday.' 

Following the protest today, Fox News anchor Dagen McDowell wrote on Twitter: 'A couple of rickety left-wingbags heckled Zeldin.

'He's against gun control!' Well, NYC's had the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation since the era of Tammany Hall.

'That hasn't stopped crime from soaring. Only leaders who will protect residents and jail criminals can.'

Phanor was purp walked on Thursday - hours after the early morning attack in the West Village

Crime continues to run rampant in the Big Apple, with violent offenses up nearly 30 percent

Phanor, 29, was purp walked on Thursday night.

Police said the victim was out by Pier 45, near West and Christopher Streets in the West Village, at around 5.30am, when he grabbed her from behind and choked her until she passed out.

He removed his victim's clothes, raped her and then fled the scene on a Citi Bike with her headphones, cell phone and wallet.

The shaken victim was spotted by a fellow jogger, and first responders took her to a nearby hospital.

In response to the crime, Zeldin tweeted: 'In Kathy Hochul's New York, law-abiding New Yorkers are forced to live in fear. Come January, in Lee Zeldin's New York, criminals will be the ones forced to live in fear.

'Election Day is 5 days away. It's time to take our streets back,' the congressman added.

A recent poll put New York Governor Hochul and Zeldin neck and neck in the governor race

Neither Hochul nor New York City Mayor Eric Adams have commented on the case, despite the massive public outrage.

Zeldin and Hochul were tied in the governor race in a surprise poll earlier this week.

The poll, by Trafalgar Group, comes after three successive surveys showed a lead for Hochul, who assumed office upon the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid sexual harassment allegations last August.