As the Israel and Hamas conflict has continued to rage for a week now, protests were erupting and tensions are mounting across the US, prompting an enhancement in security.
Major American cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Portland, and Pittsburgh, are on a heightened alert in bracing for protests and potential violence this coming weekend, reports Xinhua news agency.
Hundreds of people joined a rally at Times Square in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, chanting and waving Palestine’s red, black, and green flag.
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Some held signs reading “Free Palestine” and demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza and the funding of the Israeli military. On Thursday evening, two groups of students gathered in dueling rallies at Columbia University in New York, in support of either Israel or Palestine in the wake of the Gaza conflict.
Tensions also heated as pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups clashed on campus at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The scene turned hostile and chaotic as the two sides shouted and argued back and forth with physical confrontations in some cases, according to a report of the WRAL News.
The demonstrations came after former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal called for Friday to be a global day of protests against Israel’s retaliation against Hamas, and urged supporters to send a “message of rage to Zionists and to America”.
Law enforcement agencies across the US have stepped up their presence around synagogues, places of worship in the American Jewish community, and Israeli diplomatic posts.
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