Hundreds reportedly arrested during pro-Palestine protest in U.S. Capitol office building

Thousands of mostly Jewish protestors from the progressive groups Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow participated in a protest inside and outside the Cannon House Office Building, which is attached to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 18, 2023. / Credit: Photos used with permission from Jewish Voice for Peace

CNA Staff, Oct 19, 2023 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

Hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors were reportedly arrested Wednesday afternoon during a demonstration inside the Cannon House Office Building, which is attached to the U.S. Capitol.

The entry rotunda of the House office building was flooded with demonstrators who, chanting slogans and holding signs, disrupted movement and activity in the building.

Outside the building, a crowd of thousands more protestors forced Capitol Police to set up multiple road closures in the area.

Sonya Meyerson-Knox, a representative for Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the groups behind the protest, told CNA that the demonstration was “focused on getting members of Congress to call for a cease-fire [in Gaza] immediately.” 

She said that though her group does not have a final tally of the number of arrested, 500 American Jews, including two dozen rabbis, participated in the demonstration and “were almost all arrested.” 

As the Israeli military has continued to heavily bombard the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attack by Hamas, pro-Palestine protests have erupted at universities across the country and in European cities such as Paris and Barcelona.

As the Israeli Defense Force has bombed Gaza, it has also taken ongoing rocket fire from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. 

The demonstration at the Capitol office building on Wednesday was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and another progressive Jewish group, IfNotNow. 

According to The Guardian, Eva Borgwardt, political director of IfNotNow, demanded an urgent meeting with Biden. “We are here to tell President Biden, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world he needs to do everything in his power to demand a cease-fire, to demand a de-escalation, to release the Israeli hostages and to address the underlying circumstances that have led us into this nightmare.” 

Many protestors donned “tallits,” that is traditional Jewish prayer shawls, and held signs such as one reading, “Jews say ceasefire now.” They were inside the rotunda for several hours, according to reporting by local news outlet NBC Washington. 

During the event organizers from Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted updates on the protest. 

“For 75 years, the Israeli government has illegally occupied Palestinian land and ethnically cleansed their communities,” Jewish Voice for Peace said on X. “Now, Gaza is facing genocide with full support from the U.S. and we’re here as Jews to refuse complicity and say never again, for anyone.”

The group also said that it wouldn’t stop “until our demands of a cease-fire are met.”

Meyerson-Knox said that she considered the protest to be “massively successful.” 

“We’re already seeing a shift in the conversation on the hill,” she said, noting that there are multiple new co-sponsors to a “Cease-fire Now” resolution introduced by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri. 

“After we were livestreamed on all the major networks, it’s becoming increasingly hard to treat the American Jewish community as a monolith — or to ignore that a growing percentage of American Jews believe in the value of every human life and want a cease-fire now,” she said. 

Demonstrations inside congressional office buildings are illegal, which is why the majority of the protestors inside the building were arrested. 

In a Wednesday X statement, Capitol Police said they warned the protestors to stop demonstrating and that “when they did not comply we began arresting them.”

Capitol Police also said that three protestors were arrested and charged with assault on a police officer.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, condemned the demonstration as an “insurrection” and issued a request to Capitol Police to preserve all evidence and records of the incident so that those involved can be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

“These people do not want peace,” she said to reporters from “Real America’s Voice” during the protest. “They are pro-Hamas, they’re the same Antifa-Black Lives Matter type protestors that have caused violence and riots all over the country.” 

Bush, who spoke at the protest outside the Capitol, meanwhile said in Wednesday X statement that she was “honored to stand in solidarity with our Jewish siblings today to call for a #CeasefireNOW.” 

“I came to Congress to save lives,” Bush added. “I am standing in strong solidarity with these courageous protesters and echo their call to not weaponize grief for mass destruction. We cannot bomb our way to peace. The violence must end.” 

Meyerson-Knox said that her group will also be participating in a protest on Friday. The group known as Movement 4 Black Lives, in conjunction with other progressive groups, is planning a pro-Palestine “Cease-fire Now” demonstration at the National Mall at noon on Friday. 

Capitol Police did not immediately respond to CNA’s inquiry as to why the hundreds of protestors were allowed into the House office building.