Pro-Palestinian protests in U.S. Capitol end in arrests

Suzanne Bates
·2 min read
17
Demonstrators, calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, protest inside the Cannon House Office Building at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.
Demonstrators, calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, protest inside the Cannon House Office Building at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. | Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, Associated Press

More than 300 pro-Palestinian protesters were in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, leading to several arrests by Capitol police officers.

A large group of demonstrators, who say they were with the groups Jewish Voice for Peace, and IfNotNow, gathered in the rotunda in the Cannon House Office Building where they staged a sit-in, according to multiple reports. Hundreds of other protesters gathered outside. They chanted “Cease-fire now.”

The Anti-Defamation League calls Jewish Voice for Peace a “radical anti-Israel activist group that advocates for a complete economic, cultural and academic boycott of the state of Israel.”

The House and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms sent a memo to congressional offices advising lawmakers to take underground tunnels and to remain inside during the protests, while bike-rack barriers were put up around the Cannon Building, according to the Washington Examiner.

Capitol police officers arrested several of the protesters Wednesday evening, including three who were arrested for assaulting an officer, according to a U.S. Capitol Police social media post. By 4 p.m. MDT, the Rotunda was cleared, they reported.

U.S. Capitol Police officers detain demonstrators protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. | Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press
U.S. Capitol Police officers detain demonstrators protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. | Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

While some, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene called the demonstrators “insurrectionists,” most lawmakers seemed generally unruffled by the protests.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s communications director Billy Gribbin told the Deseret News the senator was busy with his usual work Wednesday.

“Sen. Lee stands with the victims of terrorism in Israel,” Gribbin said. “He spent the day crafting new legislation with his colleagues, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act with a speech at the Heritage Foundation, and working for the people of Utah.”