Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked five major roads in and around Washington DC during rush hour over US support for Israel.
Videos have emerged on social media showing members of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights protesting around the capital.
You can hear demonstrators chanting: ‘Free Palestine, long live Palestine’, while angry commuters can be heard continuously honking their horns.
In a social media post, the campaign said: “Hundreds of protesters are blocking five major avenues in DC and rallying at Union Station to end the genocide.
“They keep American war criminals from going to work. NO BUSINESS AS USUAL! SHUT IT DOWN!’
Videos have emerged on social media showing members of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights protesting around the capital
You can hear demonstrators chanting: ‘Free Palestine, long live Palestine’, while angry commuters can be heard continuously honking their horns.
Other footage shows protesters outside the city’s Union Station repeatedly chanting “shut it down” while waving Palestinian flags.
Another social media post said: “Any American war criminal who comes to work today will have their commute disrupted.
“They enable Israel’s continued genocide in Gaza, including the murder of more than 33,000 Palestinians, which is only possible on this scale with full U.S. support.”
Some signs were held during the protest, including one that read: “Zionism is facism,” while another sign from the anti-Zionist Jewish group Neturei Karta said: “Judaism demands freedom for Gaza and all of Palestine and bans any Jewish state.” ‘
Footage also showed police moving in to arrest protesters who had formed human barriers along the city’s roads.
It comes after government workers said they would stage a one-day hunger strike to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel amid the war with Hamas.
Members of Feds United for Peace told The Guardian that employees from more than 20 government agencies – including the Ministries of Defense and State – are planning a fast today.
They said they were protesting “starvation as a weapon of war by deliberately denying food access to Gaza,” where more than 26,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Hamas-ruled territory since the war began, according to the Health Ministry.
The activist federal employees say their goal is to force a conversation in their offices.
Other footage shows protesters outside the city’s Union Station repeatedly chanting “shut it down” while waving Palestinian flags
Commuters honked at the crowds that spread across major roads earlier this month
Residents and civil protection teams carry out a search and rescue operation around the rubble of a building demolished on January 29 after an Israeli attack in El-Zawaida, Gaza.
More than 26,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war between Hamas and Israel began
They argue that many federal employees support a ceasefire but are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation.
The group, which also includes Homeland Security personnel, cited the United Nations report that said as many as two million people in Gaza are on the brink of famine.
Feds United for Peace is the same group that organized a walkout earlier this month they called “Day of Mourning” to protest the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
According to Al Jazeera, the strike never took place and the group instead took collective leave to mark the 100 days of the war between Israel and Hamas on January 16.
‘It was never intended as a strike. It was meant to be a day of mourning. And workers took different types of leave for this day of mourning and used it in different ways,” one of the organizers told Qatari state media.
Still, the planned walkout drew criticism from Republicans in Congress, with some, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, arguing that the workers should be fired.
Other groups of federal employees supporting a ceasefire in Gaza have emerged recently, including a group called Staffers for Ceasefire that published an open letter to Biden on January 3.
The seventeen staffers called on President Biden to demand a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Dozens of US government employees will stage a one-day hunger strike to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel amid the war with Hamas
President Biden was hit from within after a group of seventeen current Biden campaign staffers published a letter criticizing Biden for his ‘tough love’ approach to the Israel-Hamas war
The Biden administration continues to pressure Israel to return to working with the Palestinians as partners once the fighting in Gaza is over and to support their eventual independence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps saying no.
It seems unlikely that this cycle, which has been frustrating for much of the world, will end, despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s fourth urgent diplomatic trip to the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Although the United States, as Israel’s closest ally and largest arms supplier, has stronger tools to pressure Israel, it has shown no willingness to use them.
Biden and his aides have said they do not want civilians to die in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and Biden helped broker a temporary ceasefire that allowed crucial aid to reach the area and the release of some hostages who were held by the militants.
During a visit to Tel Aviv, Biden warned Israelis not to be “consumed by anger.” But Biden has also said he believes Israel has the right to defend itself and has asked Congress for billions to help Israel in its war efforts.