Yesterday's national march for Gaza sent a message loud and clear: Trump's crackdown will never silence the movement to stop the genocide and free Palestine!

Protesters gathered from across the country to raise their voice against the renewed U.S.-Israeli onslaught, and oppose the Trump administration’s crackdown on civil liberties that has targeted Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Badar Khan Suri and hundreds of others simply for exercising their right to free speech. Buses from more than 30 cities from as far away as Chicago and Tampa, Florida brought people to take part in the action. 

Demonstrators were determined to show that they will not be intimidated into silence by Trump and ICE!

At the opening rally at Pennsylvania and 3rd Street NW, prominent leaders in the Palestine solidarity movement addressed the crowd. These included Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Iman Abid of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Brian Becker of the ANSWER Coalition, Grant Miner -- the recently-expelled president of the Columbia University graduate students’ union -- and a special message from Mahmoud Khalil’s friends and family.

The demonstration began right outside of the Capitol Building, protesting how Congress continually authorizes massive arms shipments to Israel

The protest included several moving visual displays. Demonstrators arranged thousands of children’s shoes to represent the at least 17,400 Palestinian children who have been killed by Israel. Massive portraits of journalists who have been killed by Israel like Shireen Abu Akleh and Hossam Shabat were displayed. And a 200 foot-long banner listing the names of all those who have been killed since the genocide began in October 2023 was unfolded at the height of the rally. 

Protesters hold a 200-foot long banner with the names of all those killed by Israel since the genocide began

The march went past the Capitol Building and throughout downtown Washington, D.C. before concluding at the headquarters of ICE. This is the agency leading the charge in both Trump’s racist mass deportation campaign, and his campaign of repression targeting students for deportation simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. This powerful concluding action drove home the key message of the demonstration: no repression, intimidation or persecution will ever make us stop speaking out for Palestine

The demonstration concludes at ICE headquarters with a call for an end to the crackdown on free speech

This action involved major costs: sound and stage, dozens of buses, and all the materials needed to carry out a large-scale mobilization. Please make an urgently needed donation today to help cover these expenses, and help us move forward with future actions.