WASHINGTON, DC – Photos taken by Breitbart News on Sunday show that anti-Israel protesters desecrated statues near the White House gates, as well as the gates’ columns, during Saturday’s protests in the nation’s capital.
Protesters used red paint to mimic bloody handprints on the columns of the north White House gates near the West Wing, while the phrase “Free Palestine” was written above the handprints.
Red handprints covered the gate columns outside of the West Wing entrance to the White House after Saturday’s protests. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A close-up of the red handprints on one of the White House gate columns. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
They still had not been cleaned by Monday morning, according to ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce.
The protesters vandalized the statue of General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, in Lafayette Park, adjacent to the North Lawn of the White House. Rochambeau led French forces fighting alongside the Continental Army against the British during the siege of York Town in the American Revolution.
Vandalism of the General Comte de Rochambeau Statue in Lafayette Park. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A closer look at the graffiti on the base of the Rochambeau Statue. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
“Free Palestine” was written in blood red paint at the base of the monument in cursive, while “Free Gaza” and “Palestine Will Be Free” were etched on higher areas of the monument. The phrase “Fuck Joe Biden” was graffiti Below Rochambeau’s name.
Protesters also covered all four sides of a smaller statue near the Rochambeau statue with anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian graffiti.
Phrases such as “Fuck Israel,” Fuck Biden,” “Death to the USA,” “Tranny Fags 4 Palestine,” “Amerikkka = pigs,” and “Kos Om Israel” were written on the monument. “Kos om Israel” is Arabic for “Your mother’s cunt, Israel.”
This side of the monument bears the words “Death to the USA,” “Fuck Biden,” and “Free Palestine.” (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
“Tranny Fags 4 Palestine,” “Kos om Israel,” and “Amerikkka = pigs” were written on another side of the statue. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A demonstrator wrote “Fuck Israel” on another side of the small statue in Lafayette Park. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Atop the statue was a sticker reading “Community Watch Area” and “Police Not Welcome.”
A sticker stating “Police Not Welcome” was placed on the top of the small monument. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
The sticker is from an organization called CrimethInc, described on its website as “a rebel alliance,” “a banner for anonymous collective action,” and “an international network for aspiring revolutionaries.”
Video captured during the protests Saturday, which NPR notes saw tens of thousands of demonstrators, shows vandals desecrating the Rochambeau Statue. As night fell on Penn Quarter, the protesters began shaking the gates of the White House while holding Palestinian flags and screaming, “You stand with genocide” and “Fucking cowards” at the Secret Service agents on the other side of the fence.
They also cheered “Allahu Akbar,” which means “God is Great,” and “We don’t want two states, we want ’48.”