Two arrested after Empire State Building antenna proposal stunt
Russian nationals Vanya Beerkus and Angela Nikolau were arrested after climbing onto the Empire State Building antenna and unfurling a banner, Reuters reported.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
Two people were arrested in New York City after climbing onto the Empire State Building’s main antenna for a stunt that appeared to combine a protest message with a marriage proposal, Reuters reported. The episode drew attention because the pair reached an area far above the skyscraper’s public viewing decks.
Reuters identified the two as Russian nationals Vanya Beerkus and Angela Nikolau. Video filmed Wednesday by a United States news helicopter showed two people dressed in black at the top of the Manhattan landmark, where they appeared to kiss, according to Reuters.
The pair displayed a banner from the antenna reading, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” Reuters reported. The perch was about 443 metres, or 1,454 feet, above street level.
Authorities had not explained how Beerkus and Nikolau reached the antenna, which sits above the public areas of the 102-storey building, according to Reuters. Police later released body camera footage showing an officer climbing a ladder toward the pair in windy conditions.
“How are you doing?” the officer asked as he climbed, according to the footage described by Reuters. The couple’s reply could not be heard over the wind, and the officer then told them, “Well, you can’t be up here.”
Beerkus and Nikolau have previously been associated with “rooftopping,” an urban climbing activity involving the scaling of tall buildings, Reuters reported. The couple appeared in the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, which followed their shared interest in the activity.
Angela Nikolau’s father, Dmitriy Nikolau, told Reuters he was not alarmed by the climb. “Why should I be worried? I climb up roofs myself,” he said.
Reuters identified Dmitriy Nikolau as a Russian circus artist and reported that he knew in advance about his daughter’s plan. He told the news agency, “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 called the climb an “unauthorized incident” in a statement, Reuters reported. The spokesperson also said the couple could have marked an engagement by buying the building’s $1,000 “Happily Ever Empire Proposal Package.”
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.