Two Russian rooftoppers were arrested in New York City after climbing to the very top of the Empire State Building for a daring marriage proposal.
A US news helicopter filmed the pair, dressed in black, kissing on the skyscraper’s main antenna on Wednesday. From their position — about 443 metres (1,454 feet) above the ground — they unfurled a banner reading, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”
It remains unclear how the couple reached the antenna, an area far above the parts of the 102-storey building open to the public.
Police body camera footage later showed an officer climbing a ladder to reach them. “How are you doing?” he asked, before telling them, “Well, you can’t be up here.”
The pair have been identified as Vanya Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, both known for their involvement in “rooftopping,” a sport that involves scaling tall buildings without safety gear. They previously featured in a 2024 Netflix documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story, about their climbing exploits.
Angela’s father, Dmitriy Nikolau, a Russian circus artist, said he wasn’t concerned about the stunt, noting that he climbs buildings himself. He said he saw nothing wrong with the act, given that scaling rooftops was permitted in any country under its laws.
The Empire State Building called the climb an “unauthorized incident” and pointed out that the couple could have instead purchased the building’s $1,000 “Happily Ever Empire Proposal Package” to celebrate their engagement.
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