Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, flyers began cropping up around the largest college campus in Washington, D.C., recruiting for groups with a history of participating in violent or otherwise unlawful protests.
Scanning the QR codes that appear on the flyers posted around George Washington University brings up a collection of links inviting individuals to fight fascism by joining groups like the People’s Medic Collective (PMC), the DMV Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Socialist Action Initiative (SAI). The trio of groups were recently involved in pro-Palestinian protests that took place in the nation’s capital following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, which were rife with illegal activity.
“What now?” one of the post-election flyers reads, directing observers to join the coalition of left-wing organizations. “Fight Fascism! Start Today!” another flyer, bearing a QR code that redirects to sign-up links to the protest groups, reads. “Turn Your Anger Into Action,” a third flyer also recruiting for the groups, says.
Flyers posted around the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. (Robert Schmad/Daily Caller News Foundation)
PMC, which recruits healthcare professionals to provide medical care to demonstrators, has a history of supporting protestors as they engage in violent clashes with the police. The organization, for instance, boasts on social media about having provided “dozens” of protestors with medical aid during the “Arrest Netanyahu” protests in July. During those protests, demonstrators allegedly engaged in violent clashes with police, vandalized statues, tore down an American flag and burned it, The Washington Post reported.
DMV SJP helped to organize a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of George Washington University in April, the Washington City Paper reported. Over 30 students were ultimately arrested at the encampment in May after failing to disperse when ordered to do so by law enforcement, according to a local media report. Four students at the encampment were charged with assaulting police officers.
Ahead of Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, protestors dressed in black stormed D.C. and engaged in mass violent confrontations with police, Reuters reported at the time. Multiple vehicles were set on fire, six officers were injured in fights, and businesses across the capital suffered property damage. At least 217 people were arrested in confrontations with police.
After being evicted from George Washington University, DMV SJP returned on the first day of classes in August, setting off smoke bombs, attempting to knock over barricades and yelling into megaphones, Campus Reform reported.
DMV SJP has also engaged in violent rhetoric, referring to their activism as “the student intifada,” according to social media posts. “Intifada” refers to “an armed uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
SAI collaborated with DMV SJP to stage its pro-Palestinian protests, according to a social media post, and was suspended from operating on George Washington University’s campus over misconduct.
Activists, organized under groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the Women’s March and the National Women’s Law Center, plan to take to the streets of D.C. ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to The Post. Organizers already estimate that 50,000 people will attend the mass demonstration.
“As in 2017, when Trump was inaugurated for the first time, the Women’s March, Planned Parenthood, and other abortion groups have again announced a mass demonstration in January 2024 to try to disrupt Trump’s second inauguration,” Post Millennial senior editor Andy Ngo wrote on X. “At the 2017 Trump inauguration, a large group of violent Antifa members smashed up buildings and started fires to reject the election while the city was occupied with other leftist protests. D.C. prosecutors dropped all the charges against the suspects. This would empower Antifa to commit more acts of political violence over the next four years.”
Federal prosecutors ultimately did drop all charges against the inauguration protestors in July 2018, NBC News reported.
George Washington University, PMC, DMV SJP and the SAI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour)
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