Charges dropped against 11 anti-Netanyahu protesters arrested in Washington

At times, the demonstrations became more tense — particularly outside Union Station, where protesters clashed with police, tore down and burned an American flag, and spray-painted the Christopher Columbus Fountain and the adjacent replica of the Liberty Bell with messages such as “Free Gaza,” “All Zionists are bastards,” and “Hamas is coming.”

Police union officials said they were frustrated that prosecutors were dropping cases — or in some cases reducing charges — and worried that their own staffing levels were not allowing them to arrest as many people as they would have liked. Representatives of the DC Attorney General’s Office and the DCUS District Attorney’s Office, which have jurisdiction over such cases, declined to comment on the matter, citing ongoing investigations.

It is possible that some of the discontinued cases will be reopened or that others will be tracked down and prosecuted later.

Not all of those arrested are accused of taking down American flags or engaging in violent confrontations with police; the group also included six relatives of hostages held in Gaza. Brianna Burch, a spokeswoman for the Capitol Police, said one or two of those protesters, who wore yellow shirts with the words “Seal the Deal” to signal that they wanted Netanyahu to negotiate the hostages’ release, stood up during the prime minister’s speech “in an action coordinated with other protesters wearing the same expressive T-shirts.”

These protesters were apparently part of the group whose cases were dismissed. There were no court records Friday detailing their charges, although prosecutors declined to say specifically what happened after their arrests. The Washington DC Attorney General’s office confirmed only that it had dismissed 11 of the 25 cases in which the perpetrators were accused of offenses such as crossing police lines and disturbing the peace.

“It’s a slap in the face to law enforcement doing their job, and these prosecutors are denying these charges,” said Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee. “Shame on them for allowing … criminals to run free.”

According to court records, 13 people are currently charged with various crimes. Eight of them appeared in D.C. Superior Court and five were released with criminal charges and ordered to appear at a later court date.

Police arrested one juvenile, a 15-year-old from Ohio, who is charged with assault on a police officer. The status of this case could not be determined due to juvenile privacy laws.

Ten people were arrested by U.S. Park Police at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station. According to court documents, the group faced the most serious charges of attempting to take down an American flag and attacking police officers.

Proceedings against two of the people arrested, according to police, were apparently dropped because court records did not show any pending charges against them.

Documents filed in the Superior Court of the District of Washington, D.C., revealed new allegations by the Park Police related to violent clashes outside Union Station with members of a protest group identified by police as the ANSWER Coalition. The anti-war organization frequently organizes protests in the District and denies that Wednesday’s demonstrations were violent.

In affidavits accompanying their arrests, Park Police officers said they saw people climbing the Christopher Columbus statue and spray-painting pro-Hamas slogans on it around 3 p.m. Other officers saw people spray-painting a bell. Then police said they saw two people climbing the base of a statue and a flagpole, including at least two who were 10 to 15 feet off the ground and “fiddling with the rope and unwinding it from the pole.”

The affidavit states that 21-year-old Sonia Krishan of Kensington was about 15 feet above the flagpole and was “pulling on the flag line.” Two Park Police officers pulled her down and handcuffed her, the affidavit states. They resisted and had to be carried out of the crowd. Martine Kaplan, an attorney representing Krishan, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, police claimed in their affidavit that 19-year-old Nathanial Lawrence was standing at the base of the flagpole and “helped tear down the American flag.” Police said Lawrence ran as officers approached him and they subdued and arrested him. While handcuffing Lawrence, officers “were attacked by members of the crowd who attempted to assist Lawrence in escaping police custody,” police said.

In an interview Friday, Lawrence said he spent about 24 hours in jail before being released. Lawrence said he saw people in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and thought “it didn’t seem right” that the American flag was flying higher. He said Wednesday’s protesters were fighting for those suffering in Gaza while the U.S. government “just stands there and lets it happen.”

So, Lawrence said, he climbed the flagpole and tried to take the flag down while another protester climbed up to help him. Then, Lawrence said, he saw several police officers coming toward him and ran.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he said.

A third person at the flagpole, Roger Miller, 43, of Baltimore, was also arrested. Police claimed protesters tried to interfere with officers’ arrest. Mark Goldstone, an attorney representing him, declined to comment.

Park Police initially charged Krishan, Lawrence and Miller with multiple offenses, including damaging public property, affray and disorderly conduct. But prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Washington, D.C., brought a single charge against each of the three: attempted theft. They claimed they attempted to wrongfully obtain and use U.S. government property: the American flag. They were not accused of participating in the flag burning that occurred after their arrests.

Following these arrests, Park Police stated, “Several protesters refused to comply with our request,” and officers moved to the northeast of the park as the crowd followed.

According to police, Essa Elies Ejelat, 33, of Yonkers, NY, pointed his right hand at a police officer and threatened him. He was arrested and charged with threatening to physically harm a police officer. His attorney declined to comment Friday.

At about 3:45 p.m., police arrested three people in another part of Columbus Circle Park who were carrying weapons, including baseball bats, batons, signs and a tranquilizer gun typically used for hunting. Frederick Coates, 25, of Bowie, Momamome Crow, 23, of D.C. and Antonio Somerville, 23, of Bowie, were each charged with carrying a concealed weapon. Coates and his attorney could not immediately be reached for comment. An attorney representing Momamome declined to comment.

Park Police also arrested 34-year-old Zachary Kam of Chicago and charged him with two counts of assault on police officers. Police say he pulled two officers by their back armor, knocking them to the ground and injuring one. Kam’s wife, contacted Friday, declined to comment and said Kam could not be reached.

Kenneth Spencer, chairman of the U.S. Park Police Fraternal Order of Police, said officers did “everything in their power” to protect the property, but they had only 29 officers and additional help from the Department of the Interior.

“A small unit of 29 officers arrested 10 people while being attacked by a mob of thousands,” Spencer said in a statement. “We simply did not have the personnel or resources to conduct a mass arrest operation.”

It is not uncommon for prosecutors to initially refrain from bringing charges against people arrested during protests, especially when they turn violent, says Rizwan Qureshi, the former assistant U.S. attorney for the district.

“Police on the street make decisions in a much shorter defined time period and make them quickly, especially when it comes to riotous behavior to quickly restore order,” Qureshi said. “But when prosecutors bring cases, they have an obligation to look at the evidence one by one and determine whether they can present those facts and prove the crime here beyond a reasonable doubt.”

But Qureshi – who was involved in the prosecution of those arrested during violent demonstrations during President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a case that ended in a large number of dismissals – added that prosecutors could reopen the cases if new evidence emerges.

Demonstrations in the Washington area continued after Netanyahu’s speech. On Friday, Virginia Department of Transportation officials cleared a months-long pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s home in Arlington. A small group of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza had camped outside his home – they had been setting up tents, chanting and waving flags since the winter.

Ellen Kamilakis, a VDOT spokeswoman, said authorities determined that “the current condition” of the road – including “people as well as concrete barriers, tents, flags and other items blocking the VDOT path – poses a hazard to motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians and blocks access for emergency vehicles and personnel.”

Two protesters who were at the scene left voluntarily after being asked to do so by Virginia State Police officers who were also present during the eviction, officials said.