As 100,000 people gathered on April 5 for the Hands Off protest in Washington, D.C., 5,000 people convened just blocks away to protest an issue that was conspicuously absent from the Hands Off agenda: the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
While the Hands Off movement, which reported millions of people participating in more than 1,300 anti-Trump protests nationwide, notably did not include foreign policy demands or any mention of Palestine in their motivations for mobilizing the national day of action, the March on Washington called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide.
The March on Washington was led by the Party for Socialism & Liberation (PSL) and the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, who, among other organizations that obtained permits, bussed in groups of protesters and sponsored the staging for the day’s demonstration. Guest speaker Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called for a practical show of force by becoming more civically engaged. “It is not enough to come here and speak to ourselves—we must engage our politicians [directly] with the megaphones and our voices,” Awad said, advocating for protesters to attend the April 28 and 29 National Muslim Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C..
Demands for the end of the U.S.-backed genocide in Palestine and the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, Mahmoud Khalil, Badar Khan Suri, and other scholars recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents echoed through the masses.
The demonstrations remained nondisruptive throughout the day. Organizers deployed a team to keep protesters off sidewalks as they passed by tourists entering and exiting the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and as they gathered on the road in front of ICE headquarters.
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Kerem Gençer
Thousands of protesters gather to listen to speakers presented by the March on Washington organizers. The stage was set on the intersection of Pennsylvania Ave and 3rd St. NW. Many protesters wore Palestinian keffiyehs, a symbol of resistance and solidarity for Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
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Kerem Gençer
Members of Neturei Karta, a group of Orthodox Jews opposed to the philosophy of Zionism, wear signs denouncing the Israeli occupation of Palestine and call for the total return of land to Indigenous Palestinians.
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Kerem Gençer
A protester’s sign reads “AMERICA IS FUNDING THE PALESTINIAN HOLOCAUST.” Since the beginning of Israel’s military assault on Gaza, at least 50,933 people have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. This number is likely a severe undercount, as the figure excludes people left under rubble and those who have been killed by starvation and illness. According to a study by Brown University, the United States provided $17.9 billion in military assistance to Israel in the first year of the genocide. Earlier this year, the Trump Administration approved $12 billion in foreign military sales to Israel and in March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expedited the transfer of $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.
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Kerem Gençer
Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral candidate studying at Tuft University, was detained by six plainclothes DHS agents on March 25 and remains in federal custody at an ICE facility in Louisiana.
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Kerem Gençer
Eugene Puryear, ANSWER Coalition organizer and PSL co-founder, speaks to the crowd during the rally.
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Kerem Gençer
Demonstrators marched from the stage outside the lawns of the U.S. Capitol to ICE headquarters to continue their demands for the release of all illegally detained political prisoners under the Trump Administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech. Protesters vowed to continue to make themselves known and their voices heard.
Kerem Gençer
Kerem Gençer is a Turkish-American documentary photographer and producer. His work centers on immersive narratives drawing connections between individual experiences and collective agency within social justice and environmental topics.
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