Arizona Democratic candidate for Congress evacuated from violent D.C. protest

Andrei Cherny, a Democrat running for Congress, was among the people evacuated Wednesday from the Democratic National Headquarters building in Washington, D.C., as protesters urging a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas swarmed the building.

Cherny posted a video of the evacuation under the protection of U.S. Capitol Police on social media. Only police can be seen in the video, but protesters can be heard shouting profanities and calling Democrats “pieces of s--- in suits” for not demanding a cease-fire.

The Democratic National Committee was hosting a campaign event Wednesday with about a dozen members of Congress inside, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., when protesters blocked the doorways and began chanting outside.

At least one person was arrested after Capitol Police removed people who had locked arms blocking doorways on the building, and six officers suffered minor injuries, according to the department.

Protesters, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace Action and other groups, blamed law enforcement for the violence.

Cherny posted on social media that a “ceasefire is called a surrender” and Israel should not be expected to do that.

“I have been clear from the start that in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel and any country in that situation can’t allow … barbaric terrorists like this to be sitting on its doorstep,” he said Thursday morning in an interview with The Arizona Republic.

“We are in a terrible situation in Israel and in the Gaza Strip with countless innocent lives being killed and it is heartbreaking on all fronts,” said Cherny, whose four grandparents all were Holocaust survivors.

Cherny is running in a crowded primary in Arizona where Democrats are vying for the chance to take on Republican Rep. David Schweikert.

Videos widely shared on social media showed several protesters locking arms and blocking the main doorway to the building, with Capitol Police shoving one down the short stairway once they got him dislodged and walking an older woman down the stairs.

Capitol Police said about 200 people were involved in the protest.

“When the group moved dumpsters in front of the exits, pepper sprayed our officers and attempted to pick up the bike rack, our teams quickly introduced consequences — pulling people off the building, pushing them back, and clearing them from the area, so we could safely evacuate the members and staff,” the department said Thursday in a statement.

Six officers suffered injuries from minor cuts, pepper spray or being punched, the department said.Police accuse the man they arrested of assaulting a police officer.

Jewish Voices for Peace Action blamed police for the violence and said more than 90 people were harmed by pepper spray and other confrontations with law enforcement.

“Last night, in D.C. Jews and allies carried out a vigil and a nonviolent, moral act of civil disobedience to call on Democrats to support a ceasefire to save Palestinian and Israeli lives,” the group said on social media. “Within moments, police brutally assaulted peaceful protesters, injuring over 90.”

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said the protesters blocked all of the building’s doorways.

“You have the Constitutional right to peaceably assemble and protest. But blocking all entries to a building with multiple members of Congress in it, protected by Capitol Police officers who have lived through January 6 is putting you and other innocent people at risk,” Casten said on social media.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Andrei Cherny evacuated from violent DNC protest in Washington