05 November 2023 , 18:57
1324
0
Part of the White House was covered with red paint resembling blood today as protesters showed their anger at the situation in the Middle East.
The gate was rattled and covered with red paint and one protestor even climbed part of the fence to wave the Palestinian flag. The nearby statue of General Marquis de Lafayette in Lafayette Park was besmirched with graffiti and flags were also added to it.
“Demonstrators are beginning to disperse from the area and the attempted gate trespass from earlier was handled without incident by Secret Service Uniformed Division officers and support teams,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said of the protest that ended at 8pm. "As of now, no arrests have been made by Secret Service personnel."
READ MORE Matthew Perry buried at famous Hollywood cemetery alongside Paul Walker and Carrie Fisher
Chants included "f**k Joe Biden" and "long live the intifada" (AP)Chants included "f**k Joe Biden " and "long live the intifada," a reference to an uprising of the Palestinian people. The Metropolitan Police contradicted Guglielmi's statement and said one person had been arrested.
Six-year-old dies after driver ploughs into people waiting at bus stop
Iman Abid-Thompson, director of advocacy at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told CNN the protests were "a testament of just how much more support has grown around the Palestinian solidarity movement and that people really want to see change come."
Israel has continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes after the horror attacks by Hamas on October 7, which saw 1,400 people killed and over 200 hostages taken. Israel has said there will be no ceasefire unless all Hamas hostages are released, despite calls from the US for a humanitarian pause.
“This has now become a choice of morality. And I think you either choose to speak up and support the Palestinians or you choose to support a genocide,” Abid-Thompson said. Over 9,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry has said.
A man attempts to scale the north fence of the White House (Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)Executive director for the Jewish Community Relations Group, Ron Halber, said the protests mounted to wholehearted support of the Hamas attack. "They are just incredibly misguided, uninformed and reactionary, and history will judge they have put themselves on the side of supporting terrorists versus a democracy trying to defend itself," he told Fox News.
Secretary of State Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a day after talks with Arab foreign ministers in neighbouring Jordan.
Secretary of State Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank today (Getty Images)Abbas, who has had no authority in Gaza since Hamas took over in 2007, said the Palestinian Authority would only assume control of Gaza as part of a “comprehensive political solution” establishing an independent state that would also take in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, lands Israel seized in the 1967 war.
Earlier in his tour, Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday reiterated while visiting an air force base that “there will be no ceasefire without the return of our abductees.” He added: “We will just continue until we beat them, we have no alternative.”
For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US