Several thousand pro-Palestinian protesters rallied at the White House on Saturday, marking 100 days since Hamas’s massacre on October 7, condemning President Joe Biden for his support of Israel and attempting to tear down a supporting fence.
According to reports in the Daily Mail and the New York Post, a video showed the crowd shaking the fence so viciously that a section of it became partially dislodged while a horde of Secret Service and police pushed back to keep the protesters from entering the grounds.
Some protesters hurled water bottles and the sticks broken off their Palestinian flags at the officers, while others tried to climb the fence, The Post reported.
According to The Post, demonstrators shouted, “f**k Joe Biden” slogans, with one sign sporting the message “Biden has blood on his hands.’
According to Reuters, the crowd called on President Biden to cease sending weapons to Israel and chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine,” “Ceasefire Now,” and the ubiquitous “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Biden accused of supporting genocide
The Mail reported that the crowd hurled, among others, bloodied dolls into the premises of the White House, which White House personnel and journalists were forced to vacate. Non-essential personnel were evacuated from the area as a precaution as the aggressive demonstration ramped up, the Secret Service confirmed.
Additionally, The Mail reported the throngs demonstrated their support for South Africa, both vocally and in the form of vendors selling South African flags, following the country’s accusation of genocide against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
The rally also granted relatives of dead Gazans an opportunity to recount their stories. The march was coordinated with other protests around the world, such as in London, Paris, Johannesburg, Rome, and Dublin, The Mail specified.
Adam Abosherieah, one of the speakers, said over 100 family members, including his 83-year-old father, mother, and brother, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
“Dozens of my family members’ bodies are still under the rubble,” Abosherieah, a pharmacist from New Jersey, said. “President Biden can easily put a stop to this genocide. He can easily pick up the phone and call Israel to stop this madness.”
Other speakers included Randa Muhtaseb, who said she lost 36 family members in Gaza, and Alaa Hussein Ali, who spoke about over 100 of his relatives killed in Israeli attacks. Reuters could not independently verify these figures. However, Israel has stated that the war with Hamas would end immediately once Hamas releases the 136 hostages it holds since it massacred some 1,200 mostly civilians on October 7.