Georgetown University students joined thousands of protesters calling for the release of pro-Palestinian protesters and an arms embargo on Israel during a Washington, D.C., rally April 5.
The protesters rallied in downtown D.C. and marched about a mile to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters, demanding the United States divest from the Israeli military and release detained pro-Palestinian student protesters and scholars. A coalition of pro-Palestine youth-led organizations, including local chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), organized the rally.
Members of the Georgetown chapter of SJP also participated in a student contingent that first met in a separate rally of about 100 people and later joined the larger protest. They called specifically for the release of scholars including Georgetown postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri, who was detained by federal immigration officers March 17 for allegedly posting Hamas propaganda.
An organizer with the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) chapter of SJP, which led the student rally, said it is important to speak out against the federal government, which the organizer said has created a “fascist state” by detaining protesters.
“They’re pushing the boundaries of what they can do,” the organizer told The Hoya. “They’re seeing how much restraint they can lift. If we don’t demonstrate against it, that will set the stage for struggle in this country and worldwide for the rest of our lives.”
The protests come a month after the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired March 1, after which Israel resumed airstrikes on Gaza. The current war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages; Israel subsequently invaded Gaza, leaving 90% of the population displaced.
Linda Sarsour, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist who spoke at the rally, said the rally aimed to show the breadth of support for Gaza among U.S. residents.
“To the people of Gaza: We have not given up on you, and there are millions of Americans all across the country who continue to demonstrate with you,” Sarsour said in a speech at the rally. “They have risked their reputations to stand on the right side of history.”
“We are the moral consistency of the United States of America,” Sarsour added.
The DMV SJP organizer said protesters are willing to take risks to support people in Gaza and the Middle East.
“We can’t give into fear mongering,” the organizer said. “Nothing we face in this country is anywhere near what our family members in Palestine, in Lebanon, in Yemen are facing. So we have to be calculated in the risks we take, but we have to take those risks.”
Lindsey Holtgrabe, who took an early morning bus from Indianapolis to join the protest, said she wanted to show solidarity with both residents of Gaza and other demonstrators in the United States.
“I wanted to see the thousands around me, to show that I wasn’t alone, to show that this city isn’t alone,” Holtgrabe told The Hoya. “We’re all in this fight together.”
“The Palestinian struggle is everyone’s struggle, and we’re not free until they’re free,” Holtgrabe added.
The protest coincided with a demonstration a mile away at the Washington Monument, which advocated against President Donald Trump’s administration but did not address pro-Palestine advocacy in its agenda.
The DMV SJP organizer said U.S. citizens should understand the administration’s actions threaten everyone’s rights, not just those of non-citizens.
“We should internalize the fact that it ultimately won’t matter if you’re a citizen,” the organizer said. “Once you become threatening enough to the capital owners, they will deal with you as they see fit. I don’t say that to be defeatist, I say that to galvanize more people. This is at our doorstep.”
Grant Miner, a leading student protester at Columbia University who was recently expelled, said in a speech at the rally that protesters should rely on their own voices, not politicians.
“If there’s one thing that’s been abundantly clear over the past month, it’s that nobody, especially not these politicians, is coming to save us,” Miner said at the rally. “But the good news is, we don’t need anybody to save us. All we need is for the people to stand together, to organize, to fight back. They can’t run the country without us but we sure as hell can run the country without them.”
Sarsour said Palestinian liberation will prove difficult but remains the key to ensuring freedom for those in Gaza and around the world.
“We will continue to fight, and it will be dark before it is light,” Sarsour said. “But the light will come, and the freedom of the Palestinian people will come, and that will bring the freedom for all people.”
Michael Scime contributed to reporting.
