Scenes of pro-Palestinian demonstrators shaking the White House gate and defacing statues throughout the District resulted in a single arrest Saturday as thousands descended on the nation’s capital to protest for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war.
D.C.’s Metropolitan Police said the lone arrest was for a man on destruction of property charges on the 700 block of 17th Street Northwest.
Authorities said the suspect spray-painted graffiti on a McDonald’s and broke one of the restaurant’s windows.
The alleged vandalism took place near Lafayette Square, where videos were taken of protesters vandalizing and strapping Palestinian flags to statues of President Andrew Jackson and Gen. Marquis de Lafayette.
D.C. police also said the department was investigating acts of vandalism that damaged police vehicles and the McPherson Square Metro Station, but D.C. police confirmed Sunday that no additional arrests have been made related to the demonstrations.
“The Metropolitan Police Department handles hundreds of protests, demonstrations, and other events every year, and we support and facilitate people safely and peacefully exercising their First Amendment right to protest,” acting Chief Pamela Smith said in a Saturday statement.
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said no one was taken into custody when protesters began pushing against and trying to climb a White House gate.
Videos taken from the demonstration showed that part of the White House gate was splotched with red paint.
Another video showed a protester putting a keffiyeh, or head scarf, around a statue of Benjamin Franklin on 12 Street NW.
The demonstration saw thousands of people flood the District to protest U.S. involvement in the war between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist organization that runs the formal government in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas was behind the Oct. 7 attack that set off the war when insurgents killed large numbers of civilians, including elderly and children. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed so far in the conflict.
Roughly 9,500 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s subsequent attacks, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
Saturday’s protest, called the “National March on Washington: Free Palestine” rally, saw participants repeatedly take swipes at President Biden’s pledge to send $14 billion in aid to Israel.
Chants of “Biden, Biden you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Genocide Joe has got to go!” rang out from the crowd during the march.
Speakers hammered Israel’s retaliatory attacks as genocide at the march’s rally point in Freedom Plaza.
“They told me to be quiet, they told me to do my research, to go back, that it’s too complex to say something, to be silent in this moment,” rapper Macklemore said during a speech at the rally. “In the last three weeks, I’ve gone back and I have done some research, I’m teachable … I don’t know everything, but I know enough to know that this is a genocide.”
Protesters punctuated their demonstration by lining the streets with body bags. The bags had the names of children who were killed by Israeli missile strikes.
Marchers also shouted “Allahu akbar” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” with the latter chant largely seen as an antisemitic call to get rid of the Jewish state and its people.
Demonstrators in the District were joined by sister marches in major American cities such as New York, Seattle and Philadelphia.
And abroad, pro-Palestinian marches took place in London, Paris, Berlin, as well as Bucharest, Romania; Milan, Italy; Santiago, Chile, and Caracas, Venezuela.
Each march demanded a cease-fire in the growing conflict where civilians are often casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly dismissed the idea of a cease-fire nearly a month after Hamas’ terror attack.
Mr. Biden has used his bully pulpit to urge for a “humanitarian pause.” The brief stop in the action would be intended to let civilians receive aid and foreign nationals to find ways to leave the area.
Renad Dayem, a Cleveland, Ohio, resident who traveled to the District with her family and children, was critical of Mr. Biden.
She said she brought her relatives to the march to show that “the Palestinian people are resilient — and we want a leader who won’t be a puppet to the Israeli government.”
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.