A protest stunt and apparent marriage proposal atop the Empire State Building has led to the arrest of two people in New York City.

Video shot by a US news helicopter on Wednesday showed two individuals, dressed in black, appearing to kiss on the iconic skyscraper's main antenna.

They unfurled a banner reading, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” from their perch roughly 443 meters (1,454 feet) above ground.

It remains unclear how the pair gained access to the antenna, located well above the publicly accessible areas of the 102-story building.

Police body camera footage released later showed an officer sent to retrieve the daredevils. “How are you doing?” he asked as he climbed a ladder, before telling them, “Well, you can't be up here.”

The arrested couple have been identified as Russian nationals Vanya Beerkus and Angela Nikolau. They appeared in the 2024 Netflix documentary “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” which chronicled their shared interest in “rooftopping,” an urban sport involving scaling city buildings.

Angela's father, Dmitriy Nikolau, a Russian circus artist, told Reuters he had prior knowledge of the climb. “Why should I be worried? I climb up roofs myself,” he said, adding, “I think it is normal to climb up a roof in any country, including the United States, according to any constitution.”

An Empire State Building spokesperson described the climb as an “unauthorized incident,” suggesting the couple should have instead purchased the building's $1,000 “Happily Ever Empire Proposal Package” to mark their engagement.

Source: www.aljazeera.com