On the 24th of July, protesters opposing Netanyahu’s genocide of Gaza showed up outside the Watergate where he was staying, for the 3ed night in a row. They banged drums, blew other nisemakers, and projected an “wanted poster” of Netanyahu on the Watergate.
At one point shortly after protesters set off a smoke flare, a poster showing Netanyahu was fed to the hungry flames. Shortly therafter an Israeli flag was burned (not on this video).
Video: street blockades starting with a hard lockdown (w lockboxes), then mobile tactics delay and disrupt Netanyahu’s motorcade. Includes motorcade vehicles (probably advance vehicles) failing to defeat a blockade and having to retreat West back towards the White House
Video: powerful blasts from police munitions near Union Station
Video: US flag comes down, Palestinian flag goes up, and Netanyahu burns in effigy at Union Station
We began with at least one hard blockade on Independence Ave, featuring two crews with lockboxes to hold their ground. Cops pushed back the overall crowd, exposing the locked down protesters who were more difficult to move. This led to several arrests.
After that, protesters switched tactics to multiple roving, mobile blockade crews. These would hold an intersection until things got untenable, then move on and strike again. Sting and move, sting and move.
Intercepted police comms showed chaos, with cops unable to figure out where to send their own forces-and unable to find ANY route for Netanyahu’s motorcade.
Eventually he found a way in, unknown if this was before or after the various blockades picked up and joined into a single large march attempting to surround the Capitol with marchers.
Union Station DID get surrounded, and there things got seriously spicy. One cop tried to charge and arrest someone, only to trip and go down. Cops made a failed attempt to stop the burning of the US flags from the flagpoles, making a couple arrests only to have the entire crowd turn and advance on them with fury and determination. The cops took their hostages and ran, with protesters in pursuit. They were lucky to escape without having to cough up those hostages to get away.
Protesters then returned tp their targets, pulling down and burning the US flags outside Union Station, then burning them. An effigy of Netanayahu was barebecued over one of the flags.
There were also a number of flashbangs, two of them very, very powerful. I directly asked a line of the cops “were those your munitions?” getting no answer. These can thus be assumed to be police flashbangs, with the stone architecture in the area boosting the sound of the blasts.
On the 23ed pf July, hundreds of Jewish antwar activists occupied the Cannon House Office building’s rotunda and refused to leave. Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, they staged thig high-profile civil disobedience just one day before Netanyahu’s address before Congress.
A pro-Zionist group claimed these protesters “stormed the Capitol” but that claim is only valid if the entry checkpoints are breached or bypassed by force, like what Trump supporters did on Jan 6 2021. Also unlike this peaceful civil disobedience, that targetted the Capitol itself not a House Office Building.
On the 14th of July, pro-Palestine protesters returned to Orlando’s Lake Eola with one message: Fuck Trump, eyes on Gaza! Due to the events of the previous day, the protest was limited to fliering the farmer’s market rather than say, marching through it chanting.
That didn’t stop cops from menacing protesters, in one case almost running over someone’s heel with a bicycle wheel. An event staffer from the farmers market first went to the cops, then whined (on camera) about being filmed! She went on to make excuse after excuse before demanding that activists either NOT HAND OUT LEAFLETS or leave the portion of the park the farmer’s market was in. This can be considered active interference with the objective of stopping the genocide in Gaza.
Note that within hours of the previous day’s Trump incident, the IOF launched a blizzard of attacks to exploit the distraction in the US. This is the same thing they did during the Super Bowl.
On the 2nd of July, protesters showed up at the home of Supreme Court “justice” Roberts. This time around, the protest was against his vote to grant Trump and by extension all other presidents absolute immunity for any acts that could plausibly in the line of official business.
A key chant was “we want democracy, not a monarchy” and no head of state claiming jurisdiction over this part of Turtle Island has had this sort of immunity since King George III.
On the 30th of June, protesters showed up at former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s house. They chanted things like “no pardon, straight to prison.” Since Bannon’s release date is days before the election, Trump is powerless to intervene save by making more threats about what might happen later. If Trump does issue such threats now, he could well be locked up too for violating his release conditions.
The following day (July 1) is Steve Bannon’s deadline to report to prison for defying one of the Congressional subpeonas into the Trump administration’s behavior. Bannon was one of the worst of the worst, attracting residential protests while Trump was in office for his gutter racism and hate.
I did not find the ride until late and by chance, because the move of the starting point back to Loch Haven Park will be next month not this month. None the less, the raid did reduce the numbers but did NOT stop the ride
On the 27th of June, a very intense pro-Palestine protest marched against the debate between Genocide Joe and Coup plotter Trump. Cops moved so aggressively to first push them out of the street and then to surround them I do NOT know if they are OK as this is written
Ford Fischer embedded live with the protest but I cannot determine from that if they were kettled or not, as Twitter/X live video does not work with Firefox with enhanced tracking protection. No doubt that is deliberate sabotage by Elon Musk.
A bit over an hour ago, Oliya Scootercaster at nitter (dot) poast.org/ScooterCasterNY released the video above showing the very aggressive police response. No further protest videos from afterwards but more posts on her account.
On the 22nd of June, the St Petersburg, FL Pride parade dodged forecasts for drenching rains and took place under mostly dry conditions. The Trans March proceeded South from Vinoy Park to link up with the main march, which then stepped off almost immediately to head back north. This was a festive event with a massive turnout.
A very special contingent marched in the main march. A coalition of pro-Palestine groups marched under Palestinian flags, and were greeted with cheers by the crowd. Genocide, mass murder, and bombing hospitals and schools seem to be unpopular with another community that in FL ourselves also face genocidal threats, in our case from DeSantis.
There is always a sour note at any parade, and this was no exception. A tiny crew of Christian nationalists showed up spewing hate, including at least two of the cult members who participated in the disruption of the 2023 Pasco Pride event where one of them assaulted a child. They were heckled, yelled back at, and at least one projectile that appeared to be a tennis ball or similar item was thrown at them. They did not have anywhere near the numbers to be anything more than a mosquito bite against this huge festival though.
The tension and very serious threats that marked the 2023 St Pete Pride were absent. That time around, several other cities had cancelled Pride events due to the DeSantis drag ban, which was thrown out by a Federal court just days before St Pete Pride. Had this ban been in effect, a police attack would have been a real risk, but most likely businesses would have been harassed after the fact.
Pride celebrates the Stonewall riots of 1969 that were triggered by a police raid on a Gay bar after all. It stands to reason that a police assault by say, Fl State troopers on a major urban pride event in 2023 could have easily detonated into another Stonewall. This time around, there were no reports of official threats and thankfully no obvious threats from militia or armed Christian nationalist outfits either, just a half dozen nuisiance operators armed only with a sound system.
Speaking of amplified sound, the religious extremists were not harassed at all for using it. When peaceful Palestine protesters at Orlando’s Lake Eola on May 11 allegedly tried to use a bullhorn, cops waded into the crowd to make arrests. The whole thing blew up, with cops spraying mace, people going every which way to escape, and reports some had diffculty escaping the park due to all those cops. No such issues faced the Christian nationalists at St Pete Pride.
On the 15th of June, Palestinians and their friends created a memorial of children’s shoes at Orlando’s City Hall. This memorial commemorates the children murdered by Israel’s carpet bombing and wholesale slaughter in Gaza.
Nobody interfered with this ceremony, note that Orlando is the same city where police tear gassed a peaceful, family-friendly Nakba rememberance march barely over a month earlier.