Thousands of anti-Israel protesters burned American flags, clashed with police, and climbed parked vehicles near the Hill on Wednesday afternoon as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress about his country’s ongoing efforts to eliminate Hamas terrorists.
Eyewitnesses who spoke with media on the scene said police used pepper spray after some protesters attempted to jump over barricades erected down the hill from the Capitol building. U.S. Park Police said in a statement that protesters had failed to obey orders to move back from the police line.
Further back in the crowd, protesters climbed dump trucks parked to block off streets for the rally and set off smoke bombs as more demonstrators pushed up toward the police perimeter on Constitution Avenue.
After police pepper sprayed the crowd, demonstrators pushed northeast of the Capitol on Massachusetts Avenue, where streets had not been blocked off for foot traffic. Buses and cars were stopped for as long as 40 minutes, according to drivers who spoke with media.
Once protesters reached the Capitol Hill neighborhood, they looped back around to Union Station, where some burned American flags and raised Palestinian ones on the flagpoles in Columbus Circle, three blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Others graffitied the monuments and statues in the park. D.C. Metropolitan Police blocked anyone from entering Union Station.
The march was organized by the ANSWER coalition, a left-wing anti-war group that partnered with several other organizations, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Code Pink, and the People’s Forum. The groups plan to protest at the Democratic National Convention in mid-August.
Protesters released maggots and crickets into a room in the Watergate Hotel where Netanyahu is staying and pulled fire alarms to disturb him on Tuesday, the hotel confirmed to Politico in a statement. “We took the necessary steps to ensure the property has been sanitized and is now operating as normal,” the hotel said.
