WASHINGTON, D.C.—Thousands gathered for a National March on Washington to oppose the persecution of pro-Palestine students like Mahmoud Khalil and demand an end to the genocide in Gaza.
Since breaking the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on March 18, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza, including hundreds of children, by striking displacement camps, schools, hospitals and homes, according to Al Jazeera.
The D.C. march brought a diverse coalition of over 200 organizations from across the country to the nation’s capital to protest.
“We all oppose the continuing aid and abetting of genocide and the military occupation of the Palestinian people,” Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour told the crowd. “We all here oppose U.S. foreign policy domination and imperialism.
We came to tell this administration we will not be silent, that we will not be intimidated. We are not going away because you and I were here in the previous administration. We are the moral consciousness of these United States of America,” she said.
“To the people of Nasbeh (West Bank), we have not given up on you and there are millions of Americans all across this country who continue to demonstrate solidarity with you. They have risked their jobs. They have risked their degrees.
They have risked their reputation to stand on the right side of history. All those who have been silent and cowered in the face of genocide, you will be in the dustbins of history,” Ms. Sarsour continued.
“We will not forgive you, we will not forget you and may the Lord give me a long life, so that you will never be able to say that you were on the right side. I will remind them of the people who were courageous and those who are cowards.
To the people of Nasbeh, we will continue to fight and it will be dark before it is light. But the light will come, and the freedom of the Palestinian people will come and that will bring the freedom for all people. Free Palestine!”
Melissa Harrington from Richmond, Virginia, attended the gathering and considers herself a ‘protest pioneer.’ She told The Final Call that she went to her first protest in 1966 with her family. They wanted to prevent her older brother from being drafted into the military during the war in Vietnam.
“I know when our country is going in the wrong direction. I’ve seen it before. What I haven’t seen before is the callous disregard for the growing number of children that have been killed in this genocide.
Thousands and thousands of innocent children are killed without any uproar in the media or the government. It’s heartbreaking. Look at the children’s shoes lined up. For miles, from 6th Street to the Capital there are children’s shoes, all colors from tennis shoes to boots to sandals, all representing the precious lives lost,” said Ms. Harrington.
“I’m getting old, but I will continue to come and protest this injustice. I love America but I don’t love what it’s doing right now. The blind support for Israel is not what America is supposed to be about. What about the Palestinians?”
Activists and advocates at the demonstration also voiced their anger and concerns about how students who have exercised their right to free speech about the atrocities Israel is committing in Gaza have been targeted by the administration of President Donald Trump.
In March, Columbia University’s Judicial Board decided the disciplinary cases of students who participated in the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall to call attention to and protest the Gaza genocide. Twenty-two students received expulsions, suspensions, or degree revocations for their alleged involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.
This included Ph.D. student Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, which represents thousands of Columbia student workers. His expulsion and firing came one day before contract negotiations were set to open with the university.
“Trump and his gang of billionaires want to use their deportation machine to question not only the movement for Palestine but any movement that seeks to improve the conditions of the working class,” Grant Miner told the crowd.
“We know this because one of the important activists, Alfredo Juarez, a tireless, advocate for workers in Washington State was arrested. His only crime was helping out the working families that grow our food.
And where are the Democrats in all this? We haven’t heard from them how concerned they are about the people whose only so-called crime is speaking out against the genocide and being snatched off the streets.” Mr. Miner criticized both political parties.
“Corey Booker has the gall to call himself pro-labor. But I’m sure you saw him speaking for 25 hours straight or whatever,” Mr. Miner said, referring to the Democratic U.S. Senator from New Jersey. Senator Booker broke the record for the number of hours speaking in Senate chambers on March 31-April 1. The record was held previously by the late U.S. Senator and staunch segregationist Strom Thurman.
“Did the name Mahmoud Khalil or the name of Rumeysa Ozturk, leave his mouth one time? No. He’s out here trying to get in Guinness Book of World Records for the longest speech. There’s no point.
They stand for nothing. As Mahmoud said in his editorial in the Columbia Spectator yesterday, the student movement will continue to carry the mantle of a free Palestine. History will redeem us while those who wait on the sideline will be forever remembered with their silence,” Mr. Miner told the crowd.
March sponsors included the Palestinian Youth Movement, The People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations.
Following the rally, demonstrators proceeded to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters. This agency is executing the Trump administration’s extensive deportation campaign and is accountable for the detention and abduction of pro-Palestine activists Mahmoud Khalil, Badar Khan Suri, and Rumeysa Ozturk, among others.
Mahmoud Khalil’s pregnant wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, sent a family statement that was read at the rally. “Mahmoud is a victim of a system that silences dissent, punishes activism and seeks to erase the truth when it comes to Palestine.
His detention is not just an attack on him, but on all of us who are part of this movement. For decades, Palestinians have endured displacement, violence, and oppression under occupation, with their human rights consistently being violated,” her statement read in part.
“By raising our voices, we not only amplify the struggles of those living in fear but also hold the international community accountable for its role in the perpetuation of this genocide.
“The world is witnessing a massacre in Gaza, an entire population under siege, subjective to relentless bombing, forced displacement, and a denial of basic human rights. The United States through its political and financial support of Israel plays a central role in sustaining this cruel occupation and the genocide taking place in Gaza. It is no coincidence that Mahmoud is being detained. He spoke out against the violence, against international complicity, and against the silence of world powers that continued to fund and enable Israel’s war crimes. His detention is part of a larger pattern of silencing Palestinian voices and activists who refuse to let the world look away from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
In her letter, Dr. Abdalla not only called for the release of her husband but also for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“We demand an end to the Israeli occupation, the lifting of the blockade, and the recognition of Palestinian’s right to self-determination. This is not just about one man’s imprisonment. It’s about the systematic oppression of an entire people. Our message today is clear. We will not be silenced. We will not let the U.S. government continue to fund genocide and enable colonialism. We will never silence our calls for freedom, justice, and dignity for Palestinians. The world must wake up and stop enabling this catastrophe. We stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and we will not rest until justice is served.”
Since Israel’s bombardment of Gaza activists have taken to the streets to protest. Demonstrations began in the administration of President Joe Biden and are continuing under President Trump. D.C. activist and journalist Eugene Puryear explained to the media why the protests continue. “I think what we’re hoping to achieve with protests like this is like the abolitionists years ago with the long-term campaigns of petitioning and other forms of pressuring the government, and their own forms of demonstrations and others is to help build a stronger moral conscious movement in this country in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to end this genocide,” he said.
“We know this country is so undemocratic, it’s so gerrymandered, it’s so difficult to get the voices of the people, even when they’re in the majority, represented inside of Congress. And so, we’re here to crystallize our position, to show people they’re not alone, to encourage them to stand up in their own localities, to keep building a movement that cannot be denied.”