Six people inside the U.S. Capitol building were arrested and charged for "disrupting" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech Wednesday before Congress.
Several protesters wore shirts that said, "SEAL THE DEAL NOW," urging Netanyahu to broker a cease-fire and hostage deal with Hamas.
"Five people in the House Gallery just disrupted the Address during the Joint Meeting," Capitol Police spokesperson Brianna Burch said of the first five arrests in a statement.
"All of them were immediately removed from the Gallery and arrested. Disrupting the Congress and demonstrating in the Congressional Buildings is against the law."
Local law in Washington, D.C., makes it illegal to "parade, demonstrate, or picket within any of the Capitol Buildings."
Netanyahu vowed "total victory" against Hamas and condemned American opponents of the war in Gaza in his speech, which was boycotted by dozens of Democratic lawmakers and protested by thousands seeking an end to the war and the humanitarian crisis created by it.
Netanyahu’s combative speech offered no sign that his visit to the United States — his first trip abroad since the war started — could bring some progress in months of U.S.-led mediation for a cease-fire and hostage-release, as the Biden administration has hoped.