Anti-Israel protesters disrupted a Holocaust Remembrance Day march at Auschwitz with Holocaust and Oct. 7 survivors Monday
Holocaust survivors watched as a group of protesters waved Palestinian flags and held a large sign reading “Stop Genocide” in front of participants of the March of the Living, many of whom waved Israeli flags. The march took place at the largest concentration camp during World War II, where the Nazis killed an estimated 1 million Jews in a less than five year period. Thousands of others were also killed, according to estimates.
“Through this protest we want to say that we bow down to the victims of the Holocaust too,” Omar Faris, head of an organization of Palestinians in Poland, said, according to The Associated Press. “At the same time, we demand an end to war, an end to genocide.”
Police sirens sound outside Auschwitz – Holocaust survivors and Oct 7 victims are walking for March of Living and Gaza protesters are chanting at them. #Auschwitz #marchoftheliving pic.twitter.com/kdnkqhkFwa
— Natalie Lisbona (@NatalieLisbona) May 6, 2024
Israeli hostages released by Hamas and those with relatives held captive in Gaza participated in the 36th annual march, according to AP. A Holocaust survivor named Judith Tzamir reportedly visited Auschwitz for the first time following the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which marked the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust. (RELATED: Chaos Erupts At Anti-Israel Protest On Georgia Campus)
“See, I try not to remember it all the time. But on the 7th of October they brought me the remembrance very, very harshly back,” she told The Associated Press. “And that’s the moment when I decided, okay, this is the time you should go to Auschwitz to see it.”
Anti-Israel protests have erupted across U.S. college campuses, where pro-Palestinian protests have attempted to occupy the campuses with calls for the universities and colleges to “divest” from companies financially tied with Israel. Protesters have chanted antisemitic slurs and have blocked Jewish students from going to class.
Police departments across the U.S. have arrested hundreds of protesters as they engaged in violence with law enforcement and refused their calls to break apart their encampments. The New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested 113 individuals during a single protest at Columbia University held on April 18, according to ABC News 7.
A mob of roughly 200 protesters smashed into a window of Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall and barricaded the building. They allegedly held three janitors hostage in the process, a source told the Columbia Spectator.
The Texas Department of Safety (DPS) and the Austin Police Department arrested multiple people people during an April 24 protest at the University of Texas-Austin. At least one protester could be seen throwing poop at state troopers, the Texas Horn reported. Video showed a crowd comparing law enforcement and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to the Ku Klux Klan.