Gaza Protesters Block Roads in Washington as Biden Delivers State of the Union

As President Joe Biden prepared for his pivotal 2024 State of the Union on Thursday, protestors demanding a cease-fire in Gaza blockaded outside the White House and near the Capitol.

The protesters, wearing shirts with the slogan “Biden Legacy = Genocide,” unfurled a large Palestinian flag across Pennsylvania Avenue, and formed a human barricade by sitting in the road to block traffic. The demonstrations were large enough to force Biden’s motorcade to take an alternate route from the White House to the Capitol, CNN reported. The pool traveling with the president said he took “the long way” to the Capitol, avoiding a large group of demonstrators just blocks away from the building. Activists could be heard outside as reporters loaded up into vans to head to the Capitol.

The protests continued as Biden’s delayed speech finally began within the Capitol. The area was practically surrounded by police vehicles and law enforcement officers who declined to speak to Rolling Stone. Despite the outsized police presence, the only protest-related arrest Thursday was that of an unidentified individual who allegedly menaced protesters near the White House by revving his car engine at them. As the protest dispersed near midnight, smaller clusters of demonstrators marched in various directions into the streets surrounding the Capitol, chanting slogans of “Free Palestine,” as they went.

“We forced the president to reroute and arrive late to give his speech to the country,” Jay Saper, an organizer with the group Jewish Voice for Peace, told Rolling Stone. “We know that right now the majority of Americans want a full, permanent, lasting cease-fire […] It’s important for our elected officials to actually answer to the people, as opposed to answering to a [foreign] government that’s actively carrying out genocide by continuing to send and pledge money and weapons to them,” they added.

“We are outraged, we are heartbroken, and we are demanding that President Biden stop funding and arming Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” Elena Stein of Jewish Voice for Peace, which helped organize the protest, told Rolling Stone.

The Biden administration has expressed concern over Israel’s bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza, but has largely maintained its support for the Israel. The White House announced plans on Thursday for a floating military operation designed to provide aid to Palestinians, but it wasn’t enough to appease activists. “This is a stunt to save his image rather than an actual intent to save lives,” Stein said. “If Biden wanted to save lives, we would not be on Day 150 of Israel dropping U.S.-made bombs on the people of Gaza.”

Biden’s State of the Union address sparked protests not just in Washington, D.C., but across the country, with demonstrators also blocking traffic in Boston and Los Angeles, according to Reuters. “We are here today because enough is enough,” Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told the outlet. “We want to make clear that the State of the Union right now is that of enabling, aiding, and abetting a genocide. Despite the fact that in the U.S. millions of Americans are living without healthcare, millions more are drowning in student debt, libraries are being shut down, budget cuts left and right — and still our government is choosing to use our taxpayer dollars to send weapons to Israel to rain them down on Palestinians,” she added.

The president is on track to be the Democratic nominee in November — but the results in Tuesday’s primaries indicate he has a growing political problem on his left. Biden has received harsh criticism from activist Democrats who are calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. This dissent has appeared in election results as a movement of Democratic voters have been casting ballots for “uncommitted,” as a way to register their disapproval of the president’s refusal to take a stronger stance toward Israel. The uncommitted campaigns “should shake” Biden and his administration, Abuznaid said. “This is not some far off struggle, this is a struggle of the American people as well for what they want their government to represent,” she added.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, in which 1,139 were killed and more than 200 were kidnapped, Israel has laid waste to Gaza with the Biden administration’s support. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, 2 million have been internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are at imminent risk of famine, according to the United Nations.