A 50-year-old Cleveland Heights man is facing a felony charge of ethnic intimidation after he allegedly elbowed his way through the Palestinian Garden during Cleveland's One World Day festival, shouting anti-Palestinian sentiments and shoving attendees at the parade. Alec Popivker was arrested by Cleveland police on Sunday and also faces a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing, with a grand jury now expected to consider the case.
According to cleveland.com, Popivker continued to shout, push, and hand out Israeli flags as he moved through the garden, at one point yelling, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Police say his behavior caused the victim, a board member of a Palestinian heritage group, to fear for her own safety and the safety of parade participants around her. Officers ultimately asked Popivker to leave the festival before arresting him. He posted a $25,000 bond on Monday.
A Festival Built on Cross-Cultural Unity
One World Day has run in Cleveland's Cultural Gardens for 80 years, a civic tradition that began on July 21, 1946, timed to coincide with the city's 150th anniversary and inspired by the founding of the United Nations the year before, according to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. The festival was designed from the start to promote peace and mutual understanding among the city's ethnic communities, and this year's celebration featured representatives from more than 50 different heritages, per the same account cited by cleveland.com. Attendance at the event reached an estimated 50,000 visitors in 2023, according to Cleveland police estimates cited by sosassociates.com, with more than 1,500 marchers taking part in the signature Parade of Flags that year. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation oversees 38 established gardens along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and East Boulevard, with 13 more in development.
A Documented History of Confrontations
This is not Popivker's first brush with the law over allegations of targeting Palestinian institutions or individuals. In 2024, he faced a felony ethnic intimidation charge stemming from an incident on Cleveland State University's campus, though prosecutors dropped that charge several weeks later, per cleveland.com's reporting. Cleveland State University police had produced 10 separate reports alleging harassment or inappropriate behavior by Popivker between 2022 and 2024, according to the university, and the school banned him from campus in 2022 after he was accused of stealing a banner from a pro-Palestine student group.
That banner theft led to a July 2023 guilty plea to theft, resulting in a suspended jail term and 18 months of probation, according to The Times of Israel. In January 2024, Popivker was also charged with aggravated disorderly conduct after an alleged trespassing incident at Algebra Tea House, whose owner had posted pro-Palestine content online. The owner told Cleveland Jewish News that Popivker struck him with his car in the parking lot, an account Popivker disputed.
Weeks of Tension Before the Festival Arrest
The One World Day arrest comes just weeks after Popivker's public standoff with the City of Cleveland Heights over an Israeli flag, a hamsa, and phrases including “Am Israel Chai” that he painted on the Cain Park public art wall. As Hoodline reported in its mural free-speech dispute coverage, city staff painted over the artwork, an unknown person defaced it with “Free Palestine” slogans, and Popivker filed a police complaint before being warned he could be arrested if he kept painting. That fight came against the backdrop of a longer pattern: Israel National News reported that Popivker and his wife were involved in a 2021 physical clash while counter-protesting a pro-Palestinian rally in Westlake, during which his wife was injured and his kippah was stolen and burned, leading a municipal court to issue a criminal protection order against a 20-year-old protester charged with misdemeanor assault. Popivker described that incident as an unprovoked attack, while protesters gave conflicting accounts.
What the Felony Charge Could Mean
Under Ohio Revised Code 2927.12, ethnic intimidation functions as a penalty enhancement: when an underlying offense such as menacing or aggravated menacing is committed because of a person's or group's race, color, religion, or national origin, the charge is automatically elevated to the next higher degree, turning what would be a first-degree misdemeanor into a fifth-degree felony, according to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission. That statute is currently the subject of a broader legislative push; Ohio lawmakers introduced House Bill 306, known as the Hate Crime Act, in May 2025 to replace the existing ethnic intimidation law with a wider hate crime framework carrying steeper criminal penalties and civil remedies up to $25,000 for bias-motivated intimidation, according to BillTrack50.
Whether the Cuyahoga County grand jury will hand down a formal indictment against Popivker, and how his prior probation status might factor into any sentencing, remain open questions. Cleveland.com's reporter said he reached out to Popivker for comment on the One World Day allegations.
