Pro-Palestinian Protest March through Georgetown Nov. 24 Called for Black Friday Boycott
By • November 27, 2023 0 1048
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas War following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and hostage-takings inside Israel —leaving more than 1,200 dead and 240 hostages taken — and the subsequent Israeli Defense Forces’ intensive bombing strikes (nominally against Hamas targets) killing more than 13,000 civilians in Gaza, roughly two-thirds of whom are women and minors according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, worldwide protests about the war have erupted in major cities around the world. Pro-Palestinian marchers are calling for an extension of the current ceasefire, recognition of a state of Palestine and denunciation of Israeli settler expansion on the West Bank, while pro-Israeli marchers are denouncing Hamas’s first-strike terror attacks, hostage-taking including women and children, and the organization’s affiliations with Iran, and the rise in global anti-semitism.
This past Friday, Nov. 24, Black Friday, pro-Palestinian marchers protested peacefully along M Street in Georgetown.
According to WUSA9, protesters marched along M Street where many people were shopping on Black Friday. The groups waved Palestinian flags and yelled, “Free, Free, Gaza,” “Free, Free, Palestine,” and “No shopping, while bombs are dropping!”
Photo by Bill Starrels.
“It is obviously a really big consumer spending day. They want us to go back to normal and spend all of our money. It doesn’t feel right when so many people are dying, to go out and spend our money like normal,” said one person at the protest in Georgetown, per WUSA9.
Photo by Bill Starrels.
According to Bill Starrels, photographer for The Georgetowner, approximately 125 pro-Palestinian marchers protested down M Street in Georgetown, chanting such slogans as, “No shopping while bombs are dropping!” and calling for Palestinian “liberation from the river to the sea!” Though the protesters held no official permit for the march, he reported, they proceeded unhindered by authorities, consistent to the District’s policies allowing for free speech protests as long as they remain safe, peaceful and without incident. Protesters left Georgetown at approximately 3:45 p.m., according to Starrels.
Photo by Bill Starrels.
WUSA9 also checked in with Metropolitan Police Friday night and were told no arrests were made.
