On Sunday, dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli supporters clashed violently outside a synagogue in Los Angeles’ Pico-Robertson neighborhood.
Pro-Palestinian activists began gathering around 11 a.m. in front of the Adas Torah synagogue in the 9000 block of West Pico Avenue, Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Im told City News Service. They were soon met by counter-demonstrators, many carrying Israeli flags.
Videos posted on social media showed fistfights breaking out between protesters, some wielding sticks and handles from protest signs, while police in riot gear stood nearby. Multiple scuffles could be seen in the streets, with some protesters throwing each other to the ground and hurling insults at each other.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
Pro-Palestinian protesters chant slogans near Adastora on West Pico Avenue on June 23, 2024.
(Zoe Cranfill/Los Angeles Times)
Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, founder of the Justice and Equality Movement Community Center in Beverly Hills, told KCAL News that the protest “should not” be held in front of the synagogue. “I don’t think a Jew would walk up to a mosque and a Christian wouldn’t walk up to a mosque and do something like this.”
The video appears to show at least two pro-Palestinian demonstrators being removed from an SUV and detained near Pico Boulevard and Weatherly Avenue, as an LAPD officer removes a small child from the back seat of the vehicle .
The ongoing war in Gaza, sparked by an Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel, has sparked numerous protests across the United States between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and supporters of Israel.
While the United States firmly supports Israel’s goals of freeing hostages held in Gaza and defeating the militant group Hamas, it has become increasingly concerned about the rising Palestinian death toll and the humanitarian crisis caused by the war.
This is a development story. City News contributed to this report.
