Five people protesting Israel’s war in Gaza were jailed after police said they refused to stop blocking traffic outside MacDill Air Force Base.
It happened around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18, outside the base gate on South Dale Mabry Highway. Video shows the group held large banners that read “Free Palestine” and “Veterans Against Genocide.”
“Officers located several individuals, some of whom were occupying the southbound lanes, ultimately endangering and preventing the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrian travel, as well as themselves,” Tampa police said in a news release.
“Officers urged protesters to share their message from the grass median or sidewalks and issued multiple warnings that arrests would follow if they remained in the roadway. Five people did not comply with officers’ commands.”
Video shows some among the protesters taunted the police, calling them “a bunch of cowards” and demanding names and badge numbers as officers struggled to fit suspects into handcuffs. One person was arrested while sitting in the road.
The suspects included four women and a man, ranging in age from 22 to 71, police said.
Charges included resisting an officer without violence, obstruction of street, sidewalk, or alley, and disobeying a police officer or fire department official, police said.
MacDill Air Force Base has 12,000 active-duty military members on base and more than 7,000 civilians, according to Military One Source. Major units at the base include United States Central Command and United States Special Operations Command.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said Sept. 16 that it believed “Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” Navi Pillay, chair of the commission, said in a news release. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
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