Yesterday while going to work I took some pictures of the layered security approach that DC was taking for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Joint Session of Congress address today. If you care to see the pictures from yesterday here they are #619181. Everyone in the office was aware of the situation and during the morning we received more intel about not only the sheer number of people coming but also where they were going to protest and where they were coming from.
Turns out the protestors drove up the price of hotel rooms in DC as between 10 and 20 thousand people are expected to protest outside of the Capitol when the speech is given in a couple of hours. While at work we started getting more and more reports of areas that were either A) now shut down or B) were going to be shut down which rapidly started making it pretty difficult to get to work in the first place!
One thing about protesting is that you cannot do it inside the House Office Buildings. Capitol Police when you do so will typically give you a couple minutes before telling you that you need to disperse or be arrested. Well in the Canon House Office Building yesterday afternoon there was a flashmob style protest that occurred and while that is what it is events before and during it where a little more eye-opening.
Mitchell Rivard, chief of staff for Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said in a statement that his office called for Capitol Police intervention after the demonstrators “became disruptive, violently beating on the office doors, shouting loudly, and attempting to force entry into the office.”
Kildee later told The Associated Press that he was confused why his office was targeted, saying he had voted against a massive supplemental military aid package to Israel earlier this year.
This stuff isn't normal that's not to say it is not unheard of but in my roughly 3.5 years on The Hill, this has happened maybe once or twice. Here is a picture of part of the group that participated in the event. https://m.stacker.news/41481 I do not think it surprises anyone that once they did not disperse they were all arrested which totaled roughly 200 people. We were then told of additional measures that were being put into place but it was a little bit too late at that point for most staffers as a lot of them on my Committee began to put in for today off to avoid having to come into work and dealing with such a volatile situation.
Within the last hour, we have had a major tunnel closed in DC due to protestors and dozens of arrests for people blocking the few roadways that remain open around the Capitol. Given we have 2 more hours till the speech is supposed to start and then I am sure protests afterward as well it is going to be more eventful than I initially thought it would be. Estimates continue to vary on the number of people that are expected at the Capitol at 2 but the most recent one I have seen is 10k which while it does not sound crazy is a lot of people given the area where protesters are being directed to by the fencing!
UPDATE: Netanyahu has still not arrived for the 2PM speech and the following is developing at the Capitol
The police are trying to move protesters out of the street, but they keep moving to block the expected path of the Netanyahu motorcade. “Wherever the motorcade goes, the people go to stop it!” declared speakers on the main stage. “Wherever you go, Bibi, the people are there in your face!”
I am going to continue to post rolling updates to this post here. A few minutes before the Israeli PM took the stage DC deployed pepper spray for the first time against the protestors for getting violent with police and trying to shove their way through the police lines. Luckily the swift response seems to have gotten the results it should have with that area no longer an issue.
During his speech, there were over 10 people removed that I could count with roughly 5 of them being for unzipping their jackets and displaying protest shirts they were wearing. Ironically even though everyone was warned about this these people who did this were arrested further adding to what I can only guess is going to be an insane total number by tomorrow morning.
During and after the speech the protesters continued to march and went to Union Station where the police were much more backed off. You would think that would help prevent any issues but now there is chaos over there because these protesters attempted to take down the American flag. From the sound of it protesters were able to get one flag down and light it on fire while the police were able to move in in full riot gear and get another flag before it was lit on fire. Police fell back after getting this flag before more arrived and now arrests are happening.
Stupid things that the protesters have been caught doing on camera now include:
Update as of 8 PM EST
The BIG hot spot Union Station was absolutely trashed
Other areas
One place of concern at least for me is once the sun sets what is going to happen then... this could get kickstarted again
In that photo, I see mostly young, white people. There's all sorts of things I could say about this, but I think it'd all be pretty predictable and boring, so I'll just leave it at that.
There was a video I saw on X where a reporter went into West Bank and asked people there about their supporters in the US. When told/shown the Queers for Palestine the people in West Bank were disgusted and were openly homophobic because "those people do not exist here". It was honestly super wild to see and the comments the people in West Bank made... would have blown the minds of all these people who think that they can apply western ideology to the middle eastern conflicts.
Thanks for posting these updates.
"Turns out the protestors drove up the price of hotel rooms in DC"
Somewhere Paul Krugman is working on an opinion piece about mass protests being good for the economy. Haha.
It is the Taylor Swift economic bump but supporting a terrorist org version!
I thought it was Taylor's fault that inflation went up, or was that Beyonce the summer before. There was some article about that.
OMG I never saw that article but that hilarious
wow Whatever happened to peaceful protests? The country has lost its standards. It must really suck for the people that live and work there in DC.
Ngl they are dead. The people protesting here today I would like to think do not represent the US because of how unhinged they were. At one point they started attacking and trying to drag off police officers
It so weird that they think it is right. I understand protesting. But if it is violent, isnt it doing just the opposite?
9:30 PM FINAL UPDATE
All road closures and building restrictions/closures have been lifted. It seems like it is dying down and I haven't heard any helicopters in the last half hour which is nice.
Sidenote Tomorrow is the last day the House of Reps will be in session till Sep. 9th. While we have not been told of any changes to the security posture it will be interesting tomorrow morning on if the fencing is still all up and if PD is still on alert. Tomorrow is when The PM and VP are supposed to meet.
On a funny note left-leaning/left-wing X is melting down that Sen. Fetterman wore a suit for a joint session with a foreign dignitary. He is being compared to simping for Hilter which... I mean wow....
So many masks in that picture. Very weird.
I guess the good side to this is it identifies extremists. If it's anything like January the 6th, all their cell devices were recorded and they can expect targeting through the Postal Inspection.
👍🏼
If you think the protestors are "normal" or "noble" please let me point you to the video in this tweet. OSINTdefender writes
The video showing the results of their actions can be found here https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1816145017947206025
This was one of the best pictures I have also seen to how layered the security is as this is within the unscalable fencing perimeter. https://m.stacker.news/41490