San Francisco police arrested 70 pro-Hamas protesters at the Israeli consulate on Monday.
The demonstrators occupied the lobby of a high-rise building in the city’s financial district that houses the consulate for several hours before being arrested for trespassing.
“Officers developed probable cause to arrest 70 suspects who refused to vacate the building,” police said in a statement. No injuries were reported.
Reuters reported that 100 people participated in the protest, citing an Instagram post from a group called the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.
The Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest Region is responsible for Alaska, Northern California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
Police officers began arresting protesters who entered and occupied the lobby of the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco’s Financial District Monday. https://t.co/y75tuQiN1L
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) June 3, 2024
Israeli legations around the world have been on high alert since the Hamas-led invasion of Oct. 7.
Numerous incidents have been reported, including in the Romanian capital Bucharest, where on Monday a man hurled a firebomb at the Israeli embassy.
There were no injuries or damage from the attack and the 34-year-old suspect, apparently of Syrian origin, was immediately arrested.
In Mexico City last week rioters set fire to the Israeli embassy during a protest ostensibly against the Israeli military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
Israel’s embassy in the Netherlands was firebombed in March, and in January an apparent explosive device was found near the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is behind the Swedish attack and other terrorist attacks carried out by criminal gangs targeting Israeli embassies throughout Europe since Oct. 7, the Mossad intelligence agency said last week.
Tehran-backed gangs are also thought to have carried out an attack on Israel’s mission in Brussels, in which two airsoft grenades were thrown.
