The U.S. Secret Service ordered a temporary evacuation of non-essential White House personnel and journalists on Saturday as a mass protest against Israel took place outside the White House gates.
Police in the District of Columbia reported that some protestors threw items at them, and the fence at the White House was damaged. Video shows the protesters shaking the fence so hard it came loose from its moorings. Protesters were shouting “F*ck Joe Biden!” and “Break it down!” They carried signs that proclaimed, “GENOCIDE JOE,” and “JOE BIDEN YOU CAN’T HIDE. WE CHARGE YOU WITH GENOCIDE.” They spray-painted graffiti on national monuments in Lafayette Park, across from the White House.
Secret Service are seen pushing back on the fence to reinforce it from the White House side as protesters pressed and shook the gates.
No arrests were made, Secret Service said.
The news of the violence at the White House, which occurred while the president was not in Washington, was not reported by the New York Times on Sunday. The Washington Post wrote an extensive and sympathetic account of the grievances of the rioters but made no mention of the evacuation of the White House.
