Two masked individuals, a man and a woman, climbed to the top of the Empire State Building Wednesday afternoon, waving a banner about world peace before the man proposed to his girlfriend.
The pair were dressed in dark outfits, and the woman wore a mask that resembled Catwoman. The black banner read, “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.” The quote is similar to the popular anti-war slogan spoken by 19th century British politician William Gladstone and made popular by America singer Jimi Hendrix.
An NYPD helicopter was dispatched to the scene shortly after the couple reached the top of the 102-floor tower. Police officers climbed up the spire and met the two to place them in custody just before 1:00 p.m. ET.
The couple have been identified as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus. Nikolau, 33, describes herself as a “neoartist exploring identity, fear & freedom” on social media.
After flying the banner for some time, the couple climbed down from the very top to the spire which is 1,454 feet above the ground. Beerkus then proposed to Nikolau and the two embraced and kissed.
Nikolau has since posted a picture of her engagement ring and some footage from the top of the Empire State Building on Instagram. The account claims the couple were the subjects of a 2024 Netflix documentary titled, “Skywalkers: A Love Story.”
