Pro-Palestinian protesters entered Capitol Hill on Thursday: Several demonstrators were arrested after they staged a protest in the complex, demanding an Israeli ceasefire.

Washington DC: A large number of supporters of Palestine gathered at the Capitol complex on Thursday and staged a protest, demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This incident disrupted one of the House office buildings, leading to restricted public access to the complex. According to a Hill staffer, they were advised to use tunnels instead of the main entrance. “We have been advised by the police to use the tunnels and not the main entrance and exit doors,” ANI quoted a staffer. In the video shared by news agency ANI, the protesters, with members from Jewish groups, were seen holding placards that read, “Ceasefire”, “Jews say, Ceasefire now.”

Washington DC: A large number of supporters of Palestine gathered at the Capitol complex on Monday and staged a protest, demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This incident disrupted one of the House office buildings, leading to restricted public access to the complex. According to a Hill staffer, they were advised to use tunnels instead of the main entrance. “We have been advised by the police to use the tunnels and not the main entrance and exit doors,” ANI quoted a staffer. In the video shared by news agency ANI, the protesters, with members from Jewish groups, were seen holding placards that read, “Ceasefire”, “Jews say, Ceasefire now.”

Following the protest, the House sergeant-at-arms sent out a memo to congressional offices that all visitors should be restricted to a single door in order to control the crowd from entering into the campus.

On Tuesday night, as a precautionary measure in anticipation of the protest, multiple bike-rack fences were installed around the Capitol building. Within the building, numerous demonstrators chanted “ceasefire now” and were subsequently arrested by the Capitol Police throughout the afternoon. Additionally, the Capitol Police declared the closure of roads surrounding the Capitol to enhance the safety of the protestors outside.

“A group of protesters are demonstrating inside the Cannon Rotunda. Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a post on X.

“Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” the Capitol Police said after the arrests.

“We warned the protestors to stop demonstrating and when they did not comply we began arresting them,” the Capitol Police added.

Emphasising that the Hamas militants are committing a double war crime daily, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Every day they perpetrate a double war crime, targetting our civilians while hiding behind their civilians, embedding themselves in the civilian population and using them as human shields. We have seen the cost of this terrible double war crime against humanity that Hamas has been perpetrating in the last 11 days.”

He highlighted that due to the attacks civilians are unfortunately getting harmed, whereas IDF is targeting terrorists only. “Hamas is responsible and should be held accountable for all civilian casualties,” he added.

According to the ministry as many as 3,478 people have been killed since Israel began bombing the Strip on October 7, in reaction to a Hamas onslaught in which some 1,400 Israelis were massacred.