Here is a gift-link to the article in case the Washington Post paywall blocks access to the article: https://wapo.st/48YdTWb
Honestly, all those Mennonites wearing Palestinian keffiyehs (in the Instagram video) is something else.
Around 130 Mennonites, calling for Gaza cease-fire, arrested on Capitol Hill
By Justin Wm. Moyer
January 16, 2024 at 4:46 p.m. EST
About 130 demonstrators were arrested Tuesday on Capitol Hill at a sit-in organized by a Mennonite group calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, police and protest organizers said.
Video circulated on a social media by a group called Mennonite Action showed protesters being arrested in the Cannon House Office Building as they sang hymns or chanted “Cease fire!” and “Let Gaza live!”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2K3TXMu ... 40c45902ea
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The website of the protest’s organizer, Mennonite Action, called for “a permanent ceasefire, a release of all hostages, and an end to the occupation of Palestine.”
“Mennonite Action is a movement of Mennonites bonded by a common belief that we have a responsibility to use our voices as powerfully as possible for the cause of peace and justice,” the website said. “We know that what’s happening right now in Israel and Palestine is unprecedented and tragic. We draw on our Mennonite history of opposing war, and in providing aid and relief to Palestine and to the Middle East.”
In a statement, U.S. Capitol Police said a group of people legally entered the Cannon House Office Building after they went through screening. About 130 people were arrested and charged with “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding” under the D.C. Code, according to the agency.
“Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings, so when they started to protest and refused to stop, we began arresting them,” the statement said.
Jonathan Brenneman, a spokesperson for Mennonite Action, said in an interview that Mennonites are part of a “historic peace church” that opposes violence in all its forms. He said about 150 protesters were arrested inside, and there were also 200 protesters outside the building.
The group has held 40 actions at policymakers’ offices since violence broke out in Gaza, according to Brenneman. Since many Mennonites live in rural areas, they represent “a broad swath of society,” he said.
“As Christians who see Christian nationalists championing Israel’s genocide, we felt compelled to speak clearly as Christians,” he said. “To demand a cease-fire. To demand an end to U.S. military funding of the Israeli military. To call for a release of all hostages — Israeli and Palestinian — and an end to the occupation.”
This is not the first time protests calling for a cease-fire in Gaza have ended in arrests at the Cannon building. In October, around 300 Jewish protesters were arrested in the same place.
