Protesters take over Capitol office building as Netanyahu's visit to DC looms
WASHINGTON - A group of demonstrators from Jewish Voice for Peace took to the Cannon Rotunda on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, wearing red shirts with the message "Jews say stop arming Israel."
The protest coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Congress this week.
According to Jewish Voice for Peace, around 400 American Jews participated in the sit-in.
They chanted while occupying the Cannon House Office Building's floor for over an hour. Their action was aimed at urging the government to stop funding what they described as genocide.
A source from the office of Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Michigan, told Fox News that staff and interns barricaded themselves in their offices, which were close to the demonstration.
The protesters were nearby, and the source said the protesters were "violently beating on all three of the doors."
"Hundreds of protesters outside the office became disruptive, violently beating on the office doors, shouting loudly, and attempting to force entry into the office," Kildee’s chief of staff told Fox in a statement. "U.S. Capitol Police and Sergeant at Arms responded immediately to the incident and have made several arrests."
"Congressman Kildee is safe and his staff are all accounted for," the statement added.
FOX 5 observed several protesters being zip-tied and escorted out by Capitol Police officers. The department confirmed that approximately 200 people were arrested for crowding, obstructing, or incommoding, and demonstrating inside the Cannon House Office Building.
Demonstrating inside the Congressional buildings is against the law.
Jewish Voice for Peace said that over a dozen Rabbis, wearing hand-made prayer shawls emblazoned with "Never Again for Anyone," led the sit-in through prayer and songs of peace and justice. Members from IfNotNow, Democratic Socialists of America and Shoresh (anti-Zionist Israelis in the U.S.) participated in the peaceful protest.
Capitol Police released a statement via X: "We are arresting a group that is illegally demonstrating inside the Cannon Rotunda. Demonstrations are not allowed inside the Congressional Buildings. We told the people, who legally entered, to stop or they would be arrested. They did not stop, so we are arresting them."
Authorities are preparing for additional protests calling for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel to pop up around the city during Netanyahu's visit.
Fox News Digital's Julia Johnson and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.