Protesters calling for cease-fire in Gaza keep up drumbeat on Capitol Hill

After a tense night of protests outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, demonstrators again descended on Capitol Hill demanding a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, though in much smaller numbers.

“We are here … because we cannot imagine what’s going on back in Gaza,” said Mona Sadeq, executive director of the American Palestinian Women’s Association, standing outside the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “We have people there. We keep contacting them. … There is no water, there is no food.”

Members of the media and Capitol Police officers outnumbered the roughly 30 protesters who assembled Thursday afternoon in the Hart Senate Office Building. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the progressive anti-war group Code Pink, said many protesters were struggling to gain access to the building because of security protocols that closed some entrances to the public. 

Those who made it in the building planned on visiting the offices of every Democratic woman in the Senate — and some Republican women as well, time permitting — to read messages from Gazan women, recite poetry and sing songs as they urged lawmakers to call for a cease-fire.

“We just think that given that 80 percent of Democrats… said they want a cease-fire, that they should be listening to their constituents. And none of them have called for a cease-fire,” Benjamin said, citing an October poll from the liberal think tank Data for Progress.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 and taking more than 200 hostages, the war has driven a wedge between progressive Democrats in Congress and their more moderate colleagues. 

Israel’s large scale air assault on Gaza, followed by a ground invasion, has been described as a genocide by critics of the military response and of the U.S.’s continued support of the Israeli government. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin became the first senator to call for a cease-fire earlier this month, while at least 30 members of the House have called for Israel to end its siege of Gaza.

Thursday’s protest was organized by Code Pink and the American Palestinian Women’s Association. They were joined by representatives from the newly formed Doctors Against Genocide, a global group of roughly 200 medical professionals advocating for a cease-fire, according to one of its founding members, Nidal Jboor, a physician from Michigan.

“We have a responsibility as a medical community to protect the children. No one has a license to murder children, under any circumstances. It doesn’t matter who is right or who is wrong or what politics you have. No children should be killed,” Jboor said.

The demonstration came a day after a tense night of clashes between police and roughly 200 protesters gathered in front of the DNC headquarters while members of Congress were inside the building. According to Capitol Police, the group did not respond to orders from law enforcement to move back from the building and became violent.

“When the group moved dumpsters in front of the exits, pepper sprayed our officers and attempted to pick up the bike rack, our teams quickly introduced consequences — pulling people off the building, pushing them back, and clearing them from the area, so we could safely evacuate the Members and staff,” the Capitol Police said in a statement released Thursday.

Six officers were treated for injuries, which varied in severity from minor cuts, to being pepper sprayed, to being punched. 

One demonstrator, Ruben Arthur Camacho, 24, of Woodbridge, N.Y., was arrested for assault on a police officer after he was allegedly observed slamming a female officer into a garage door and punching her in the face, police said.

Members of Congress in the building had to be evacuated. One, Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten, posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the protesters had the constitutional right to assemble, “but blocking all entries to a building with multiple members of Congress in it, protected by Capitol Police officers who have lived through Jan. 6, is putting you and other innocent people at risk.” 

Protesters, meanwhile, alleged they remained peaceful but the Capitol Police escalated the situation and hit and pepper sprayed those gathered peacefully. Organizers told reporters that more than 90 protesters were injured during the altercation with police. Videos of the fracas circulated on social media. One, posted by congressional reporter David Weigel of Semafor, appears to show an officer pepper spraying a group of protesters.

Jeff Ordower, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, one of the groups that organized the vigil, said in a statement that the police rushed the protesters without warning. “We’ve been doing actions in D.C. for decades, and have never had police refuse to talk to a police liaison,” he said.

In addition to Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the Wednesday vigil was sponsored by IfNotNow and the Democratic Socialists of America, according to protesters.

Speaker Mike Johnson weighed in Thursday, condemning the previous night’s demonstrations “in the strongest terms.” 

“As Americans, we must unite with one voice in steadfast support of our ally Israel,” the Louisiana Republican said in a statement. “Congress will not be intimidated by this vile display of anti-Semitism.”

The actions this week were the latest staged by various groups in or near the halls of Congress since the outset of the war. Last month, protesters calling for a cease-fire disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

And more than 300 protesters calling for a cease-fire were arrested on Oct. 18 after assembling in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building. Three members of that group were arrested for assault on a police officer, and there was some property damage outside the building, the Capitol Police said at the time.

Capitol Police on Thursday said there had been no arrests associated with the Code Pink and American Palestinian Women’s Association protest.

Earlier this week, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in support of Israel on the National Mall, with Johnson appearing alongside Democratic leaders in a bipartisan show of solidarity.

“Even in its darkest days, the United States has always stood with Israel, and we will do everything to see that that never, ever changes,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said at Tuesday’s rally.

Chris Marquette and Mark Satter contributed to this report.