Washington DC witnessed a clash between US Capitol police officers and pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters calling on lawmakers to back a ceasefire in Gaza and end the genocide by "Israel" on Gaza.
Three advocacy groups organized the protest, including IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace Action, who took to X to say they were "assaulted" even though they stated their protest was "nonviolent".
"We were peacefully linking arms, singing, and calling for a ceasefire," IfNotNow posted, adding, "Then Capitol Police rushed in, threw us down the stairs, and pepper sprayed us."
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Photos on social media show them donning black T-shirts with “Cease Fire Now” in white letters as they struggled with police officers trying to pull them away from the building.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action stated that the plan was to lay out 11,000 candles, representing the number of Palestinians killed by "Israel", but police interrupted with violence and pepper spray.
Eva Borgwardt, IfNotNow's spokesperson, expressed in a statement that the protest was a "moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a cease-fire and an end to our government’s funding of violence against Palestinian civilians by Netanyahu’s far-right government."
Legislators at the DNC headquarters at the time were evacuated from the area by police.
In response, US Capitol police posted on X declared that the number of protesters was 150 and that they were "illegally and violently protesting" near the offices. It further claimed that one person was arrested for an alleged "assault on an officer."
Earlier this week, "Israel's" ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, relayed to journalists that pro-Palestine protests amid the war on Gaza are nothing but "manifestations of anti-Semitism".
"They are not just against Israel … it’s a new type of anti-Semitism," he added.