A group of anti-Israel protesters calling for Congress to support a ceasefire and end military aid to Israel shut down the Senate cafeteria.
The group of protesters, Christians for a Free Palestine, was captured on video in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and could be heard chanting, “We are Christians for Free Palestine,” “We are here to pray for the food of Gaza,” and “Our Scriptures say, ‘Woe to you! To eat while others go hungry,’ and ‘Woe to you! For there is famine in Gaza.'”
“Congress and their staff will not eat today,” the protesters can be heard saying in one video. “Until Gaza eats.”
The protest comes as the people of Gaza face mass famine as fighting between Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terrorist organization, and Israel continues. Countries such as Britain, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have conducted airdrops of food into Gaza.
U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to Breitbart News that “approximately 50 people” had been arrested for “illegally demonstrating” in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The protesters were charged with Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding under D.C. Code § 22–1307.
“It is illegal to demonstrate inside any of the Congressional Buildings,” the U.S. Capitol Police told Breitbart News in a statement.
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Bradley Jaye/Breitbart NewsBefore arresting the group of roughly 50 protesters, U.S. Capitol Police reportedly shouted and instructed that “everybody” get out “or be placed under arrest,” a source told Fox News.
In response to the arrests, Christians for a Free Palestine posted a statement on X, saying that “peaceful protest and song” calling for a ceasefire “shouldn’t be met with policing and arrest.”
“Then again, we shouldn’t have to protest to get genocide to stop in the first place,” the group added.
Anti-Israel protests have risen since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel by land, sea, and air, and roughly 1,200 people were left dead, and more than 200 people were taken as hostages.
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Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart NewsSince October 7, protests have continued to sprout up across the nation and worldwide calling for a ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel. At the beginning of April, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was berated by pro-Palestinian protesters who yelled that she should “stop holding fundraisers for genocide.”
On April 4, President Joe Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, threatening Israel with a loss of U.S. support if it did not comply. Before Biden’s demand of a ceasefire and during a hostage negotiation talk in Doha, Qatar, at the end of March, Hamas had demanded a ceasefire precede the release of any other hostages.
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