Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gather in DC, NY, London, as Israel bombs Gaza
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A massive crowd of demonstrators converged on the nation’s capital Saturday to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, as the death toll in Gaza climbed past 9,200 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned away American requests for a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting.
The afternoon protest at Freedom Plaza, a short walk from the White House, was the most recent in a wave of demonstrations around the world seeking an end to Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, now in its 29th day, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,400 people.
By evening, a crowd of about 150 people stood in Lafayette Park at the White House fence, chanting 'cease fire now,' with another couple hundred milling nearby in the park.
"The main goal of everyone right now is a cease-fire," Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told USA TODAY. "You can't do anything without a cease-fire ? you can't do humanitarian aid, you can't treat the wounded, you can't even remove bodies until there's a cease-fire."
"Nothing should get in the way of a humanitarian cease-fire."
Demonstrations in New York, London and Paris coincided with the protest in Washington.
'No cease-fire, no votes'
Many speakers focused on Biden's support for Israel's war effort and his opposition to a cease-fire, with one, a member of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, referring to the president as "Genocide Joe."
But none emphasized the wedge the Gaza war has driven between the Democratic Party and Arab Americans and young voters better than Nihad Awad, national executive director at CAIR.
"The language that President Biden and his party understand is the language of votes in the 2024 elections and our message is: No cease-fire, no votes," Awad, a Palestinian American, said to huge cheers.
"No votes in Michigan, no votes in Arizona, no votes in Georgia, no votes in Nevada, no votes in Wisconsin, no votes in Pennsylvania," he said, calling out the names of swing states that brought Biden his 2020 victory. Awad clarified for the crowd that he was speaking in a personal capacity when he made the electoral threat.
"No votes for you anywhere if you don’t call for a cease-fire now," he said.
Awad's call for an electoral boycott of the Democratic party came one day after progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, released a video making a similar call to action.
“Joe Biden supported the genocide of the Palestinian people," Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, says in the video. "The American people won’t forget. Biden, support a cease-fire now. Or don’t count on us in 2024.”
'Enough is enough'
Some at the protest, such as Joan Nicholson, 89, of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, were drawn by their longstanding sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Others, like Xochitl Aldama, 25, of Tampa, Florida, said they came to the protest due to their newfound horror at the scale of destruction in Gaza.
Others were driven by personal loss.
“I came with tens of thousands of others to hold my country accountable for its complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Laila El Haddad, 45, a Palestinian American author, told USA TODAY.
“I learned yesterday that five of my close family members – my aunt, three of my adult cousins, and my cousin’s wife – were killed by an Israeli airstrike on their Gaza City home.”
“I’m here to say enough is enough,” she said.
Big crowd spills beyond Freedom Plaza
By late Saturday afternoon, it was unclear how many people had participated in the rally. The crowd spilled out of Freedom Plaza and across the adjoining streets.
The U.S. Park Police said in response to a query that it was “prohibited from providing crowd sizes for any event.” The D.C. Metropolitan Police didn’t respond to calls seeking an estimate of the crowd’s size.
As the speeches wound down shortly before 5 p.m, a stream of demonstrators two city blocks long left the plaza to march to the White House as Arabic pop music played and participants shared snacks of carrot sticks and crackers. Some marchers carried mock coffins representing the victims of Israeli strikes on Gaza.
The bulk of the marchers stood outside the White House for about 30 minutes chanting slogans before dispersing.
One man was arrested for destruction of property during the protest in Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Elizabeth Grannis said. The man is accused of spray painting windows of a business in the 700 block of 17th Street, NW, a police social media post said.
In a social media post Saturday evening, traffic police said people were gradually dispersing from Lafayette Park, and police are planning to reopen planned road closures.
Police were still monitoring the protests in front of the White House, Grannis said.
Just before 8 p.m., Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service, told USA TODAY demonstrators remained at the White House complex, but an attempt to trespass at a gate was handled without incident. No arrests had been made by Secret Service personnel, he said.
Anti-Defamation League claims rally had 'zero acknowledgment of Israeli suffering'
The speeches at Freedom Plaza were full of grief over the destruction of Gaza and anger about the war, but no one who took the stage Saturday condemned Hamas or its attack on Israel, Meredith Weisel, capital region director of the Anti-Defamation League said.
"There was zero acknowledgment of Israeli suffering," Weisel said in an interview, "and a lot of legitimizing and justification for violence against Israelis."
One group of demonstrators carried a banner bearing the hashtag #AlAqsaFlood, the name that Hamas gave to its stunning attack last month.
"Surely there are people there today who are responding to the humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, Weisel added. "But most of the people we have have seen on the stage have been justifying what happened on Oct. 7."
Protesters in New York, London and Paris demand an end to the Gaza war
On Saturday evening, images circulated online showed scores of demonstrators marching through Midtown Manhattan streets toward the United Nations building. The New York City Police Department said there were temporary road closures because of the protest, though no arrests had been made. Mayor Eric Adams was monitoring the protest, a City Hall spokesperson said in a text message.
U.N. press officers didn't immediately respond to emails Saturday evening.
On Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported protesters at the Port of Oakland, in California, scaled a U.S. military vessel believed to be headed to Israel.
In Europe, at least 11 people were arrested in London on Saturday afternoon as a surge of hundreds of demonstrators shut down the Oxford Circus shopping and tourist district, blocking streets and chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian people.
“This behavior clearly impacts on London’s ability to function normally and we are working quickly to reopen the road,” London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
In Paris, thousands marched to demand a cease-fire in the first mass gathering allowed by officials since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. As he marched, Wahid Barek, a 66-year-old retiree, told Reuters he opposed the killing of both Israelis and Palestinians. "I deplore civilian deaths on both sides. Civilians have nothing to do with these actions. It really is shameful," he said.
Protesters also took to the streets in Berlin, Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey to protest the bombardment of Gaza.
Toddlers and grandmothers join the crowd at protest in DC
By 2:30 p.m., Pennsylvania Avenue and other streets around the rally were thick with demonstrators as speakers began addressing the calm but energized assembly. Organizers said that 40 buses carrying attendees couldn't reach the plaza after streets were closed, organizers said. The passengers walked under cloud-streaked skies attempting to get as close as they could to the rally.
The crowd included participants using wheelchairs, toddlers and people of all races wearing the keffiya, a traditional scarf worn in Arab regions. Many held signs calling for an end to the war in Gaza, with some linking the Palestinian cause with other world events, including a placard that read: "From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go."
Navy vet among the swelling numbers at Gaza protest
As demonstrators filled Freedom Plaza, spilling out onto the surrounding streets, chanting "cease-fire now" at a deafening volume, James Colbow, a 69-year-old Navy veteran from Ohio, said he drove to the capital to show solidarity with embattled Palestinians in Gaza.
“I felt disappointment in my government that they’ve been complicit in these war crimes,” Colbow said.
Colbow said a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state living side-by-side, would be key to peace in the Middle East. "I believe in the Jewish people’s right to self-determination but also for the Palestinians,” he said.
Who planned the Gaza protest?
The D.C. demonstration was organized by the ANSWER Coalition, an umbrella group of anti-war and racial justice organizations, which advocates for ending the Israeli siege of Gaza and for the cessation of U.S. aid to Israel.
"Today is going to be the largest demonstration ever in the history of the United States in support of Palestinian social and civil rights, and for peace," Brian Becker, the coalition's executive director said in an interview before the event.
"We're sending a message to the Biden administration that we profoundly disagree with its position, which has opposed a ceasefire and has instead embraced Israel's genocidal-type assault against civilians in Gaza," Becker said. "We're expecting, minimally, tens of thousands. I wouldn't be surprised if there are 100,000."
Netanyahu rejects calls for a 'humanitarian pause'
On Friday, Netanyahu deflected pleas by Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting that would allow food and medical supplies into Gaza.
“I have made clear that we are continuing forcefully, and that Israel refuses a temporary cease-fire that does not include the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said following a meeting with Blinken in Tel Aviv. “Israel does not allow the entry of fuel to the Gaza Strip and opposes the transfer of funds to Gaza.”
More: Israeli strikes kill civilians in Gaza at shelter, hospital; Blinken in Jordan: Updates
Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that controls Gaza, abducted an estimated 240 people from Israel during its stunning attack last month.
Blinken stresses 'imperative of doing everything possible to protect civilians'
The U.N., citing figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, said Friday that 9,257 people had been killed in the coastal enclave by Israeli airstrikes since Oct. 7 including 3,826 children. Fewer than one-third of Gaza's hospitals are operating and the territory has seven days of food stocks remaining, the U.N. said.
“We stand strongly with and behind Israel in its right and obligation to defend itself, defend its people and take the steps necessary to try to ensure that this never happens again,” Blinken told reporters on Friday, while also emphasizing “the imperative of doing everything possible to protect civilians, the imperative of doing everything possible to get assistance to those who need it.”
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Thousands protest Israeli bombing of Gaza in DC, NY, London
