Current:Home > StocksGaza war protesters hold a ‘die-in’ near the White House as Netanyahu meets with Biden, Harris-LoTradeCoin
Gaza war protesters hold a ‘die-in’ near the White House as Netanyahu meets with Biden, Harris
View Date:2024-12-23 23:30:34
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters against the Gaza war held a “die-in” across from Lafayette Park and the White House on Thursday as President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The protesters poured red liquid onto the street, saying it symbolized the blood of those killed in Gaza. They chanted, “Arrest Netanyahu,” and brought in an effigy of Netanyahu with blood on its hands and wearing an orange jumpsuit. The jumpsuit reads, “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”
More than 39,000 people have died in Gaza since the start of the war in October. Dozens of Israeli hostages remain in Hamas captivity.
In an address to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended Israel’s conduct during the war, as thousands of demonstrators massed near the Capitol, marching through city streets carrying Palestinian flags and calling for Netanyahu’s arrest.
Outside Washington’s Union Station, protesters removed American flags and hoisted Palestinian ones in their place to massive cheers in the crowd. They sprayed graffiti on a monument to Christopher Columbus.
In a statement Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, spoke strongly about the protesters’ actions.
“Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent, and we must not tolerate it in our nation,” she said. “I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.”
The number of protesters Thursday was significantly smaller than the day before.
Hazami Barmada, who described herself as a grassroots activist, spoke through a megaphone of Biden’s decision not to see reelection and to pass the baton to Harris.
“Biden did not voluntarily leave the race, Joe Biden was pushed out of the race,” she said. “And Kamala Harris still needs to prove her humanity” before earning the trust of pro-Palestinian voters.
“I’m not going to give you my vote until you show you share the ideals that the Democratic Party is supposed to believe in,” she said.
At one point, a young man with an Israeli flag draped over his shoulders walked into the middle of the protest circle and posed for the journalists’ cameras as the crowd jeered.
Police worked to keep the two sides apart.
As police led the man away — he wasn’t detained — Barmada shouted, “See, they even want to occupy our protests. Even our land isn’t enough!”
As police cleared the way, the protesters later marched through city streets toward the National Mall.
___
veryGood! (57516)
Related
- Everard Burke Introduce
- Why Penélope Cruz Isn't Worried About Aging Ahead of Her 50th Birthday
- Florida Senate passes bills seeking to expand health care availability
- Florida Senate passes bills seeking to expand health care availability
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- Inside Sofía Vergara’s Prosthetics Transformation Into Drug Lord Griselda Blanco
- New Mexico governor threatened with impeachment by Republican lawmakers over gun restrictions
- Green Day, Jimmy Fallon team up for surprise acoustic set in NYC subway: Video
- Georgia lawmaker proposes new gun safety policies after school shooting
- Florida man sentenced to 5 years in prison for assaulting officers in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Ranking
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- Costco Members Welcome New CEO With a Party—and a Demand to Drop Citibank
- Remains of fireworks explosion victims taken to Thai temple where families give DNA to identify them
- Teen struck and killed while trying to help free vehicle in snowstorm
- NFL power rankings Week 11: Steelers, Eagles enjoying stealthy rises
- Shooting inside popular mall in Kansas City, Missouri, injures 6
- NY midwife who gave kids homeopathic pellets instead of vaccines fined $300K for falsifying records
- Barking dog helps rescuers find missing hiker 170 feet below trail in Hawaii
Recommendation
-
‘Heretic’ and Hugh Grant debut with $11 million, but ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ tops box office again
-
‘Stop Cop City’ attacks have caused costs to rise for Atlanta police training center, officials say
-
Georgia’s governor says more clean energy will be needed to fuel electric vehicle manufacturing
-
Hungary won’t back down and change LGBTQ+ and asylum policies criticized by EU, minister says
-
How Saturday Night Live Reacted to Donald Trump’s Win Over Kamala Harris
-
Israeli strike kills 16 in southern Gaza; no word on whether medicines reached hostages
-
Illness forces Delaware governor John Carney to postpone annual State of the State address
-
Can the deadliest cat in the world be this tiny and cute? Watch as Gaia, the black-footed cat, greets Utah