Exclusive: Pro-Hamas riots prompt congressional demands for prosecution
- August 5, 2024
Matthew Foldi, Washington Reporter
Pro-Hamas protestors who rioted in America’s Capital last week should be punished for their actions, a Republican lawmaker told Washington, D.C.’s United States Attorney.
In a letter first obtained by the Washington Reporter, Rep. Stephanie Bice (R., Okla.) wrote to U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, demanding that he “find and prosecute all individuals who undertook these illegal acts at Union Station to the fullest extent of the law,” referencing the pro-Hamas demonstration that took place near the Capitol building last week, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress.
The “utterly predictable” protests have resulted in “vandalism of federal property and assaults on Park Police,” Protect the Public’s Trust’s director, Michael Chamberlain, told the Reporter, and the organization that sought a permit to protest “did not even comply with its requirement before it was issued.”
The Department of the Interior should “actually do something to impose consequences on those who agreed to accept liability per the terms of the permit itself, and disincentivize repeat abuses in the future,” he added.