Anti-Israel agitators in the nation's capital got the green light from law enforcement to protest in the streets Monday, despite not obtaining a permit, disrupting traffic and occupying private property.
As protests ramped up in Chicago outside the Democratic National Convention Monday and Tuesday, a group of several dozen pro-Hamas activists took to the streets in Washington, D.C. They marched down Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street, and at one point rallied in front of the Hall of States building that houses major media outlets like NBC, C-SPAN and Fox News. The protesters held up an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an image that was also present during pro-Hamas protests that took place throughout D.C.'s streets last month and devolved into vandalism and violence.
"The District of Columbia does not require a permit for those seeking to demonstrate," D.C. police told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "Metropolitan Police officers monitored the event to ensure that the group demonstrated peacefully." It was unclear how many officers were assigned to monitor the protest. D.C. police declined to comment on the matter, citing that it does not publicly discuss "operational tactics and procedures."
On July 24, as Netanyahu visited the Capitol to deliver an address to Congress on the current state of the Israel-Hamas war, angry anti-Israel protesters burned an American flag, vandalized a statue of Christopher Columbus with the words, "Hamas is coming," and replaced an American flag flying outside Union Station with a Palestinian one. Protesters could also be heard shouting, "Allahu Akbar" and one rally goer was reportedly seen carrying the terror group Hamas' flag.
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Police were eventually forced to deploy pepper spray as the protesters became "violent," failed to obey commands and assaulted officers, according to the Associated Press. U.S. Capitol Police initially indicated they arrested six people, but subsequent reports indicated roughly two dozen protesters were eventually arrested. Prosecutors eventually dropped many of the less serious charges against 11 of the protesters, according to the Washington attorney general's office.
The protests were widely condemned, including by Democrats.
"Defacing public property, desecrating the American flag, threatening Jews with violence and promoting terrorist groups like Hamas is not acceptable under any circumstance," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement responding to the July protest. "There is a difference between lawful expression and disorderly conduct. Anyone who violates the law must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
