Pro-Palestinian activist group in Maryland met by counter protesters calling for ‘the end’ of Gaza

Video of the November 5 rally was posted by Saqib Ali on Facebook and showed contentious moments between the two sides. The event was called "Maryland demands a Gaza ceasefire now" and stated that it was a "coalition of multifaith Marylanders" who were calling for "an immediate ceasefire & humanitarian aid" in Gaza.

Ali posted footage from the rally, saying that by the time the group he was with arrived, another group was already there counter protesting. This group wore shirts reading "Bring them home now," and waived Israeli flags. A speaker for this group shouted vitriol about the Muslims who were protesting and about those Palestinians in Gaza. The shirts reference the 250 Israelis who were kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack.

"There were some ugly racist counterprotestors who showed up and were screaming curses at the kids, telling our people to 'Go Back to where you came from' and threatening to turn Gaza into a 'Big Parking Lot,'" Ali posted along with video. "This is the kind of inherent racism and violent rhetoric that I would like to see our politicians condemn."

"We are right, and you are murderers," a man can be seen yelling on a loud speaker. "Go away. Go back to where you came from. Go, go, you are not welcome here. Rockville is my town. F*ck off f*ck off, go away."

At another moment, a person can be saying "Get your hands off of him," with a man responding "or what" and before yelling, "you m*ther f*cker. You Muslim. Your Muslim. We kill your brothers."

The same man also declared, "I am Israel. I am Jew."

"Come on you f*ggots," yelled another man. "You f*ggots, you f*ggots, we will live in Gaza."

"We will remove Gaza from the Earth" declared the same man who told protestors to "go away." He added, "You're animals, animals. The end of Gaza, the end of your people."

Additional footage from the rally showed Marlyan Delegate Gabriel Acevero leading protesters in a chant calling for justice, saying "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now. And if we don't get it? Shut it down." Acevero called for a ceasefire in Gaza and praised Rep. Ilhan Omar who, he said "has shown so much strength despite all of the noise... her voice has been clear..."

Ali called for a hostage exchange days after the rally.

Protests have been seen across the western world since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israel declared war on the Palestinian terror group.