This Wednesday, July 1, two people went up without authorization to the antenna located on top of the Empire State Building in New York City, where they displayed a banner with a message in favor of love and peace, and against war. They were later arrested.
It was a man and a woman, both hooded and dressed in black, who held up a banner with the message in English: “When the power of love defeats the love of power, the world will know peace.”
In images captured from a helicopter by local media, the couple can be seen descending from the antenna and, on a platform near the top of the Empire State Building, the man proposes to the woman, after which they both kiss.
The couple is in the custody of the New York City Police, according to local media.
The two people were identified as Ivan “Vanya” Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, a Russian couple of professional skyscraper climbers, both based in New York City.
The couple starred in the documentary in 2024 Skywalkers: A Love Story.
Beerkus and Nikolau are known for climbing skyscrapers without ropes or harnesses. In that documentary they recount, among other feats, how they climbed the Merdeka 118 tower in Kuala Lumpur, the second tallest structure in the world.
In an interview granted to Variety That same year, they commented that they had just moved to New York City and still had “buildings left to conquer.”
🚨 BREAKING: 2 people have climbed the Empire State Building in New York to fly a flag. The flag reads “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.” pic.twitter.com/YrIudqf9Lx
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) July 1, 2026
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