Anti-Israel protesters chased law enforcement officials out of a park next to the White House on Saturday as thousands of people gathered to call on President Joe Biden to cut military aid to Israel and demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip war against Hamas.
Reporter Julio Rosas posted video to X showing the encounter as chants of “You have to leave” morphed into “F*** the police” while some demonstrators followed authorities making their way through the crowd in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.
“Anti-Israel protesters formed a mob and chased US Park Police and Secret Service out of Lafayette Square after officers apparently tried to arrest someone,” Rosas said. “Police are no longer inside the park and are on the boundaries of the protest.”
Ford Fischer, editor-in-chief of News2Share, posted a thread to X showing the moment that police tried to make an arrest.
“A crowd surrounded them chanting ‘let her go!’ and struggled with officers, who deployed mace against protesters and press,” Fischer said.
“Protesters surrounding and resisting the police cheered as a relatively rare moment occurred: The arrestee (whose hands had been cuffed behind their back) was able to leave, unarrested,” he added. “It’s not clear to me if they were uncuffed and/or later rearrested.”
Other clips posted to X by Rosas, who was reporting for The Blaze, showed protesters carrying flags and banners showing support for the Palestinians. They climbed onto statues in the park, which were defaced with graffiti, and set off a red smoke bomb.
Oliya Scootercaster of Freedom News TV posted video of protesters chanting “F*** you fascist” and throwing various objects at a man she identified as a park ranger standing next to one of the statues. Another showed protesters unfurling a red banner meant to surround the White House and depict their “red line” on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Among the more gruesome images, as shown in video credited to “NewYorkCityPeople” on X, was a man holding what appeared to be a Biden face mask that was made to look bloody and someone else burning a small American flag with a lighter.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) condemned the anti-Israel protesters and pressed for the sort of federal crackdown seen in response to the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021.
“Anti-American, pro-Hamas thugs desecrated the statues of our veterans literally across the street from the White House, a blatant violation of federal law. On video,” Cotton said on X. “I expect the Department of Justice to use every technique against them that it used against grandmas in MAGA hats.”
Biden was not at the White House at the time of the protest. He travelled to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion during World War II.
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