Supporters of Palestine pray and march Downtown; suspect in vehicle attack in custody

Bailey Gallion and Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch
Updated ·3 min read
The remnants of a crowd of demonstrators who marched Thursday night through downtown Columbus in support of Palestinian people chat in front of the Ohio Statehouse. Some demonstrators left to attend a prayer vigil for Palestinians conducted at a Dublin mosque. During the march, witnesses told police a man driving a pickup truck intentionally swerved to hit a demonstrator while yelling an anti-Palestinian profanity. The driver was later taken into custody by Columbus police.

A demonstration and march Thursday night in support of Palestinians impacted by the war between Hamas and Israel was marred by what eyewitnesses say was an apparent vehicle attack on demonstrators who had blocked streets in downtown Columbus.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the Ohio Statehouse and later took to Downtown streets to protest in response to the war between Israel and Hamas, an Islamist militant organization based in Palestinian territory in the Gaza strip that carried out a surprise attack Saturday on Israel as Sukkot, a seven-day-long Jewish festival, was ending.

As of Thursday night, more than 1,300 people in Israel had been killed, including at least 27 Americans, according to the Israeli military. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that more than 1,530 people in Gaza had been killed by Israeli bombing, including nearly 450 children, and more than 6,000 others were wounded.

Members of the Ohio State University Students for Justice in Palestine and the Palestine Women's Association and other community supporters were involved in the demonstration and march Downtown.

Aya Mohammed, 20, said that the protesters were marching in the street near Broad and High streets around 7:20 p.m. when she saw an older man driving a truck begin to shout obscenities about Palestinians and then swerve out of his lane and hit a demonstrator on a bicycle. The silver Nissan pickup with Kentucky plates then fled.

No information about the cyclist's condition was available, but Columbus Division of Fire medics were not called to the scene, a Columbus police dispatcher reported.

An alert for the pickup truck was issued. Columbus police reported that the vehicle was stopped at North 3rd and East Lynn streets, and a suspect in the incident had been taken into custody.

Police said Friday that detectives are investigating, but no criminal charges have been filed as of now.

Mohammed said as a Muslim, the incident during a peaceful protest march made made her feel "incredibly unsafe."

"It shows the increasing tensions going across the country," Mohammed said. "This is symbolism of what Muslims and Palestinians and people who are viewed as Arab are going through across this country as a result of misinformation and harmful rhetoric that's spread around the Palestinian movement."

At 8 p.m., the march had ended but there were still dozens of protesters standing outside the Statehouse on High Street, and cars were going up and down the street with occupants waving Palestinian flags.

Fazal Suhail, 21, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said he was "disappointed" by the incident with the pickup.

"People are taking such harsh actions when we're obviously having a peaceful rally," Suhail said. "We're not hurting anyone."

Following the march, the Ohio branch of the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) hosted a prayer vigil and reflection at 8 p.m. Thursday at Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin.

"This deadly violence must stop," CAIR Ohio wrote of the Gaza conflict in a statement on its website. "The only way to permanently stop the violence is to end the occupation. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians are killed every yea,r and millions more men, women, and children are subject to systemic, racist oppression."

The group condemned Israel's response to the deadly attack by Hamas terrorists.

"Indiscriminately bombing residential towers, ambulances and Palestinian civilians in Gaza only adds to the tragic loss of life and creates new barriers to a long-lasting solution. There is nowhere for Palestinian civilians to seek shelter."

Also Thursday night, several Jewish congregations in the Columbus area sponsored a "community prayer and learning" gathering for Israel. The congregations are also collecting items to send to soldiers in Israel who have family members in the Columbus area.

bagallion@gannett.com

cbehrens@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Truck swerves at pro-Palestine demonstrators in downtown Columbus