Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters engaged in a brawl outside of a holocaust museum in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening, ABC7 Eyewitness News reported.
Approximately 50 protesters initially gathered outside of the Museum of Tolerance because the institution was hosting a private screening, spurred by actress Gal Gadot, of footage showing the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, according to the Los Angeles Times. Multiple fights eventually broke out, with protesters throwing punches, wrestling each other and using pepper spray, an ABC7 video of the protest showed. (RELATED: FBI Investigating Violent Threats Made Against Jewish Staff At Ivy League School)
“We cannot allow current worldwide tension to devolve into this unacceptable violence in our city,” Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass wrote in response to the brawl. “This is a time of immense pain and distress for thousands of Angelenos. We must stand together.”
#BREAKING: Two groups clash outside L.A.’s Museum of Tolerance as the center screens a film on Hamas atrocities. LAPD officers move in as several people appear to have been punched and pepper-sprayed. Eyewitness News is live with the tense situation. Tonight at 11 from ABC7 pic.twitter.com/JJSpV6MmXi
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 9, 2023
Police attempted to respond to the fight by forming a skirmish line and detained several protesters, although it is not clear if any arrests were made, ABC7 reported. The fights appear to have broken out at a Shell gas station across the street from the museum, where the pro-Palestinian protesters had gathered to demonstrate against the screening of war footage, according to the Times.
The Los Angeles Police Department, the Museum of Tolerance and the LA mayor’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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