Protestors gathered outside of the Dominican Consulate in Times Square to voice their support for author Junot Diaz.
The demonstration comes in response to the consulate's decision to strip the Dominican author of his 2009 Citizens of Merit Award following his participation in Advocacy Day.
The day was established to challenge legislation that resulted in hundreds of thousands of Dominican residents of Haitian descent losing their citizenship.
Some call the move to revoke Diaz's award an intimidation tactic, while the consulate says it had a specific reason to do so.
"In the past weeks Mr. Junot DIaz has made statements against our country, but yesterday he took concrete actions by requesting the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions against the Dominican Republic. For this reason we withdrew the award conferred to him," said Eduardo Selman, Dominican Republic Consul General for NY.
The consulate says the legislation Diaz and others have protested is legal under the Dominican Republic's Constitution.