- Pro-Palestinian protesters tried to block Biden’s motorcade to the Capitol
- Protesters gathered hours before the State of the Union address to protest Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
- He unfurled a huge Palestinian flag and sat in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Several hundred angry pro-Palestinian protesters sat in the street to block President Joe Biden’s motorcade between the White House and the Capitol for his State of the Union address on Thursday.
A huge Palestinian flag was unfurled in the street with protesters sitting and standing around it and others holding a banner with the message: “Biden’s legacy is genocide.”
Protesters had megaphones, “ceasefire” signs and wore black T-shirts with messages demanding Biden get tough on Israel.
They were surrounded by law enforcement officers from all sides as police helicopters hovered over Washington, DC.
Pro-Palestinian protesters stand in the middle of the street in an attempt to block President Joe Biden’s motorcade between the White House and the Capitol for his State of the Union address Thursday night. Pictured: Jewish Voice for Peace activists join a pro-Palestinian protest on Pennsylvania Avenue on March 7, 2024.
Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied near the White House just hours before Biden’s State of the Union address.
The stance is primarily symbolic as there are many routes to take from the White House to the Capitol that would avoid protesters.
Meanwhile, down the street, another group of pro-Palestinian protesters stood in front of the Capitol’s Bullfeathers Republican watering hole and chanted at staff dining and drinking before the State of the Union.
‘Employees, employees who can’t hide! “We accuse you of genocide,” they shouted at Hill employees and demanded they “quit their jobs.”
‘Get a job!’ Republican House employees shouted at the protesters who interrupted their evening.
Biden left the White House at 8:50 p.m. for a brief trip to the Capitol for his third State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. Despite the protesters, there did not appear to be any setbacks during the few-minute trip Thursday night.
Protesters were sitting and marching in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue hours before Biden departed along one of the most direct routes between the White House and the Capitol.
“When I say genocide, you say Joe,” one protester with a bull horn sparked the call-and-response chant.
The progressive and pro-Palestine factions of the Democratic Party are highly critical of Biden’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza after Hamas terrorists attacked the Jewish state in October.
“When I say genocide, you say Joe,” one protester with a bull horn sparked the call-and-response chant.
Protesters projected an image of Biden’s face on the side of a building with the message ‘Genocide Joe’
Protesters sat in the middle of the street around a Palestinian flag in the ground on Pennsylvania Avenue while projecting “Biden’s legacy is genocide” on the side of a nearby building.
Biden has strongly backed Israel, but has seen backlash for that stance lately.
In Michigan’s Democratic presidential primary last month, more than 100,000 voters voted “uncommitted” in the protests.
In his speech, Biden will announce that the US military will build a temporary floating port off Gaza to more easily deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.
The move was expected to appease disgruntled members of his own party.
Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, carrying out the largest single-day atrocity against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Thursday marks five months into the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas that began that October day.
But protesters in the United States have accused Israel of carrying out attacks against the Palestinian people.
Israel maintains that it is defending itself against Hamas and terrorists operating from Palestinian enclaves.
Protesters unfurled a huge Palestinian flag on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., in preparation to try to block the route Biden would normally take in his motorcade between the White House and the Capitol.
