Pro-Palestine activists block key roadway as Biden prepares for State of the Union

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Pro-Palestinian activists have been carrying out demonstrations across key parts of the US capital Thursday evening as President Joe Biden prepares to deliver the annual State of Union address.

Hundreds of demonstrators demanding an immediate cease-fire in the besieged Gaza Strip unfurled a large Palestinian flag and staged a sit-in on a major roadway the president would normally use to reach the Capitol building, just minutes before he is set to address a joint session of Congress.

"Biden's legacy is genocide," read one banner that was unfurled on Pennsylvania Ave. Another contained a list of the names of the thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza since October. "The People Demand: Stop Arming Israel," another banner said.

Earlier Thursday evening, police said a man was taken into custody for reckless driving near a park across from the White House where protesters had gathered.

Israel has continued a military offensive on the Gaza Strip, now in its 153rd day, in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,800 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and nearly 73,000 others injured amid widespread devastation in the coastal enclave. Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

In an interim ruling in January, the International Court of Justice ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully inadequate to meet the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.