Pro-Palestine protesters took over parts of Washington, DC, to show their hatred of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas was on the ground to document it. Julio tells Glenn how the protesters spray painted monuments with messages like “Hamas is coming,” tore down American flags at Union Station and replaced them with Palestinian flags, and burned the American flags. He also recounts the heroic actions of the US Park Police, which he says was sorely understaffed. Plus, he reveals the biggest differences between these protests and the January 6th Capitol Riot, which he also documented.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Julio Rosas is with us.
He's a Blaze media national correspondent. He was actually standing with the protesters yesterday. Not protesting. But I'll bet he was parading. He should be arrested.
But he was with the protesters, the Hamas protesters, who were absolutely vile. Outside of Union Station, where they took down the American flags, replaced them with Palestinian flags. And then defaced all of our monuments there at Union Station. Saying Hamas is coming.
Which I really like. You know, I like that warning. I don't think I needed it. But I like that warning. Julio is with us now, to tell us what it was like in the crowd. Hi, Julio.
JULIO: Hi, Glenn. Thanks for having me.
GLENN: You bet. So what did you see that surprised you? And what did it feel like?
JULIO: Well, nothing surprised me. I mean, the whole reason why I -- the whole reason why, you know, we were willing to -- Blaze was willing to send me is because I told them.
I said, this is going to get out of hand. Because this is not Biden. This is not Harris. This is Benjamin Netanyahu that is speaking to Congress. I mean, this is their guy, that they hate the most. He's in town.
So this will be their only shot to make their -- their attack, in terms of destruction and rioting.
And so I'm not surprised at all, that they are no longer hiding their Hamas support. And like you said, we've all known this for a while.
You, but now they're really letting the mask slip. Just because the war has continued. In Gaza. And there has been a cease-fire. There has been no -- Israel hasn't ceased with this. They are getting madder and madder as the months go on. It was crazy. Them tearing down the American flag. Inside Union Station. Again, it's not surprising.
They've done that. Similar groups have done that all across the country. To the credit of the US park police. They did move in to stop -- and I filmed that for TheBlaze media.
GLENN: Yeah. I have to tell you, I watched it. Hang on just a second.
Can we play that video? If you happen to be watching TheBlaze right now. We'll play that video. And I'll describe what's happening. You're not seeing this anymore. You're seeing the depressing part of defacing and an angry crowd, and the Palestinian flags going up.
But you don't see what the US park police did, and it was -- they were greatly outnumbered.
And they go right into the crowd. In what was there, probably ten of them, Julio?
JULIO: Just about. Unfortunately, the park police, like other law enforcement agencies, they are severely understaffed. And that's something that their union has been vocal about for a very long time.
And so that's why, you know, they were able to make the arrests. They were able to save the flag, but they weren't able to prevent further destruction to the monuments or to the other flags.
And that's just because they didn't have the manpower to do that.
GLENN: Yeah. Well, we're $35 trillion in debt.
The cupboards are bare. You know, we're spending $4 trillion. But we don't have the money for extra law enforcement.
The -- the other picture you took. And I don't know how you got in there, to take this. But the picture you took of them folding the flag, inside the office. They took the flag back. And folded it up. And preserved it. That's remarkable.
JULIO: Yeah. And that is their -- they take that very seriously. I mean, the park police. They protect the national mall. They protect the monuments.
In New York and San Francisco as well.
And they take their job seriously. Because they protect these highly trafficked tourist areas. Things that are -- you know, when people say the United States. They automatically think of the national mall. You know, all these monuments and stuff.
So they try their best, in these United Nations situations to mitigate and prevent the destruction from happening. But like I said, unfortunately, they don't have the manpower to completely secure these areas, when there's that many rioters in the area. And this is the unfortunate consequences of the George Floyd -- post-George Floyd world.
They're not really allowed to, because the -- the police command and the general, you know, higher level in terms of politicians. Their approach is now, well, the police had to de-escalate. And what that is fancy for. The police have to leave the area. And not engage. And let people do what they want.
That's basically what they're told to do. But obviously, when they're able to take action, they -- they will try their best to do that.
GLENN: So can you compare this -- I mean, you weren't at January 6th. But can you compare the tone of the crowd, and the things that were happening at all.
Did it at all resemble January 6th?
JULIO: Actually, I did -- January 6th. I was there that day, and I made it.
GLENN: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that.
JULIO: No, no, no. It's all good. It was quite the day. But, no, so I can kind of compare the two.
So, obviously, the big difference between January 6th and July 24th -- J24, is that the authorities were actually prepared this time.
They brought in police from New York. They brought in police from Maryland. They brought in extra law enforcement. They actually secured the perimeter of the Capitol of the complex.
Which didn't happen January 6th. And I have always maintained that, yes. It was a riot. But it was the most preventable riot of that season.
You know, political violence is something that we have been experiencing for months. Prior to January 6th.
And so I don't know why -- so I -- it is my belief, that they allowed it to happen. By not adequately preparing for it.
So that's why, yesterday, you know, J20 tower. They didn't get close to the Capitol building. They tried. And that's why, within the first five minutes of the march.
They tried to push their way through a police line. That's why the police had to pepper spray, to get them to stop.
But, again, the rhetoric is openly praising terrorist groups. And making it known by defacing monuments.
I mean, that is -- that is something that has been happening for a long time.
I've actually been telling Congress, that they need to take this seriously.
And as typical of DC. They don't really start to get going, until it happens in their backyard. There are things happening now.
Okay. We should probably focus on the street protesters. There's a lot of focus on the college campuses. I'm not saying that is not important. But the street protests have been happening since October 8th of last year. And they have caused massive amounts of damage, a lot of violence.
And that's something that needs to be looked at, at the federal level.
So this was obviously not nearly as bad in terms of the Capitol building being breached. Because that didn't happen.
But again, that know didn't happen pause they actually prepared for it.
It's sad. If there will be a major protest. We have to wall up the White House.
We have to wall up the Capitol building. Or wall up the Supreme Court.
And nine times out of ten. It's because of the far left.
GLENN: Are you going to share the pictures of the cleanup, that you took this morning? have you shared them already? Or have I been misinformed? I understood that you were there taking pictures this morning of the cleanup or maybe not.
JULIO: No, I -- my flight was early this morning. So unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that. Sorry about that.
GLENN: Oh, yeah.
I hear that they were out scrubbing the monuments and cleaning up, you know, all the aftermath. Did anybody go to jail?
JULIO: So I was told by park police, that at least ten people were -- were arrested. And that was sort of the instruction of government proper. For defacing. And resisting arrest. Fighting.
But true to the area. A lot of them were quickly released.
That the -- the Palestinian groups were posting videos, showing their, quote, unquote, comrades, being released within -- within hours.
So that's another reason why the police are reluctant to go out of their way to put themselves into harm's way. They do know, even if they do arrest people, for not minor offenses, in these liberal jurisdictions. The rest of these -- it's just going to let that go.
GLENN: Julio, thank you so much.
Julio Rosas. You can find his personal Substack MostlyPeaceful.live. This was mostly peaceful, yesterday, I'm sure it was.
And you could also find his reports at -- on Blaze media and TheBlaze.com. Thanks, Julio, I appreciate it.
JULIO: Yeah. Thank you for having me.