Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down major roadways in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning, chanting, "Long live the intifada" and "Israel go to hell."
"Biden, Biden, you can't hide! We charge you with genocide," the protesters can be heard yelling in video taken by the Washington Free Beacon. The demonstrators blocked the commutes of many residents of the district and the surrounding areas as they demanded a ceasefire in the war in Gaza and an end to American aid for Israel. Protesters blocked one street in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, a photo posted to social media shows.
The protests appear to be the work of the Palestinian Youth Movement, which, in addition to posting several on-the-ground videos of the events, advertised days ago that "D.C. will shut down for Palestine" in an Instagram post promoting the protest. The group listed demands including a "permanent ceasefire" and an end to Israeli "occupation" and "U.S. complicity in Zionism."
"Palestinians have experienced over 75 years of settler-colonialism, military occupation, and apartheid," one slide in the post read. "Our people expose the weak foundations of Israel's settler-colonial apparatus and occupation, which will inevitably be dismantled at the hands of Palestinians—from the river to the sea."
Jewish groups have condemned both the "intifada" and "from the river to the sea" slogans. The first and second intifadas were violent uprisings against Israel, one occurring in the late 1980s, the other in the early 2000s. They featured terror attacks on both Israeli soldiers and civilians. Terror groups including Hamas and Hezbollah have used the phrase, "From the river to the sea," to call for the destruction of the State of Israel.
Pro-Palestinian protesters in New York engaged in similar tactics last month, blocking bridges in New York City. One pro-Palestinian group demonstrated in front of a "complicit" cancer hospital in the city that demonstrators claimed supported "genocide."
Jessica Costescu contributed to this report.