The National Park Service on Thursday began removing graffiti and repairing statues, a bell and a fountain outside Union Station that protesters damaged Wednesday during demonstrations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint meeting of Congress.
The graffiti included phrases such as “Free Gaza,” “Hamas,” “child killers” “F—- Netanyahu” and “Free Palestine.”
Architectural conservators trained in treating marble were busy Thursday morning cleaning the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain and the Freedom Bell. The graffiti on the fountain will need several days of cleaning treatment, according to a Park Service worker.
“Marble is a more porous material than granite, so once the paint starts to seep in, it takes a little longer to draw it out — but certainly over the course of the next week,” the Park Service worker said. “By the time they’re done, you won’t be able to see any [of the vandalism].
Protesters vandalized the marble of the Lincoln Memorial with green paint about 15 years ago, requiring about two weeks of work to remove the graffiti, while vandalism on the granite of the Washington Monument a couple years ago was removed after one day of treatment, the worker said.
Former President Donald Trump issued an executive order in June 2020, during the BLM riots, directing federal law enforcement to prosecute individuals who damaged monuments and threatening to withhold funding from local governments that failed to protect their own statues from vandals. President Biden rescinded that order on May 14, 2021.
The Park Service received but declined offers from the public to help in the cleanup, saying that specialized treatments needed to be done as opposed to simply using bleach and a pressure washer that could cause more damage.
Thousands of demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza marched through Washington on Wednesday, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of war crimes as he addressed congressional lawmakers.
The protesters who faced off against law enforcement were pepper-sprayed and shouted several chants, including “Free, Free Palestine,” “The whole world is watching,” “We will never be silenced” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The Palestinian militant group Hamas sparked the war with its Oct. 7 raid of southern Israel, which killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and in which more than 200 others were taken hostage. Since then, Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas controls, has killed more than 39,000 people, according to Gazan health officials, whose figures haven’t been verified and who do not differentiate between civilians and Hamas fighters.
In Washington, Hundreds of protesters were arrested Tuesday night at a sit-in at a House office building at the U.S. Capitol complex.
Protesters rallied at Union Station, where they removed American flags outside the train station and replaced them with Palestinian flags. They chanted “Shut it down!” and marched behind a banner that read “globalize the student intifada.”
Law enforcement began to deploy pepper-spray and make arrests near the train terminal.
“Part of the crowd has started to become violent at First Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. The crowd failed to obey our order to move back from our police line,” U.S. Capitol Police posted on X. “We are deploying pepper spray towards anyone trying to break the law and cross that line.”
Republican lawmakers brought American flags to Union Station later that evening after law enforcement removed the Palestinian flags and hoisted the U.S. flags on the poles.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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