WATCH: Campus Reform went to the DC pro-Palestine rally. Activists tried to get us arrested.
Campus Reform Student Reporter William Biagini went to Saturday's March for Palestine to film the rally. Angry protesters tried to get police to arrest Biagini for documenting the event as a journalist.
On Nov. 4, the largest pro-Palestine rally supporting Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on the state of Israel was hosted in Washington, D.C., and organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
As Campus Reform Student Reporter William Biagini covered the event, at least one activist tried to threaten him with arrest for being at the event. This threat came after event organizers tried to keep Biagini out of the event despite him presenting his press credentials.
Campus Reform did obtain exclusive footage of the rally—which was attended by over 300,000 protestors, including university students, that had been bussed in from across the country, according to PSL.
Footage features protesters shouting various chants such as “Free, free Palestine!” and “Gaza Gaza don’t you cry! Palestine will never die!” The anti-Israeli protesters can also be seen carrying signs that equate the Israeli flag to the swastika.
The video documents a police officer confirming to Biagini that he and the Campus Reform cameraman were free to film the event as journalists.
Towards the evening, anti-Israeli activists participating in the massive rally scaled the White House fences and threw objects at Secret Service agents. They also covered pictures of historical American figures like George Washington with Palestinian flags—Campus Reform photos show.
Campus Reform was denied press entry to the main event at the designated media table. After Campus Reform asked why, table workers turned their backs.
“Speakers who addressed the rally emphasized the historic nature of the violence suffered by the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation,” An Instagram statement posted by PSL shortly after the rally states, “highlighting that the genocidal bombing of Gaza in the past several weeks is an escalation of the already existing policy of ethnic cleansing implemented by Israel for the last 75 years.”
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“They also sharply condemned the complicity of the US government in Israel’s crimes, insisting that the Biden administration must listen to the voice of the people in the US and cut all funding,” it reads further.
Campus Reform has been regularly covering pro-Hamas rallies taking place across the country. For example, pro-Hamas activists at Florida State University (FSU) recently called for the total eradication of the state of Israel.
Additionally, anti-Israeli student activists at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) chanted “Intifada”—which refers to the Palestinian militant and terrorist attacks against Israel.
