he protesters vandalized the statue of General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, in Lafayette Park, adjacent to the North Lawn of the White House. Rochambeau
led French forces fighting alongside the Continental Army against the British during the siege of York Town in the American Revolution.
Vandalism of the General Comte de Rochambeau Statue in Lafayette Park. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A closer look at the graffiti on the base of the Rochambeau Statue. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
“Free Palestine” was written in blood red paint at the base of the monument in cursive, while “Free Gaza” and “Palestine Will Be Free” were etched on higher areas of the monument. The phrase “Fuck Joe Biden” was graffiti Below Rochambeau’s name.
The phrase “Fuck Joe Biden” was etched near Rochambeau’s name. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Protesters also covered all four sides of a smaller statue near the Rochambeau statue with anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian graffiti.
The vandalism on one of the four sides of the statue. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Phrases such as “Fuck Israel,” Fuck Biden,” “Death to the USA,” “Tranny Fags 4 Palestine,” “Amerikkka = pigs,” and “Kos Om Israel” were written on the monument. “Kos om Israel” is Arabic for “Your mother’s cunt, Israel.”
This side of the monument bears the words “Death to the USA,” “Fuck Biden,” and “Free Palestine.” (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
“Tranny Fags 4 Palestine,” “Kos om Israel,” and “Amerikkka = pigs” were written on another side of the statue. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
A demonstrator wrote “Fuck Israel” on another side of the small statue in Lafayette Park. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
Atop the statue was a sticker reading “Community Watch Area” and “Police Not Welcome.”
A sticker stating “Police Not Welcome” was placed on the top of the small monument. (Nick Gilbertson/Breitbart News)
The sticker is from an organization
called CrimethInc, described on its website as “a rebel alliance,” “a banner for anonymous collective action,” and “an international network for aspiring revolutionaries.”
Video
captured during the protests Saturday, which NPR
notes saw tens of thousands of demonstrators, shows vandals desecrating the Rochambeau Statue. As night fell on Penn Quarter, the protesters began shaking the gates of the White House while holding Palestinian flags and screaming, “You stand with genocide” and “Fucking cowards” at the Secret Service agents on the other side of the fence.
