Regional Overview
United States & Canada
May 2024
Posted: 10 June 2024
United States & Canada: Pro-Palestine demonstrations rise to highest levels since 7 October
Demonstrations in support of Palestine rose last month to their highest recorded levels in the United States since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent conflict in Gaza. Pro-Palestine demonstrations were held across at least 45 states and Washington DC, representing an increased diffusion of pro-Palestine demonstrations across the country compared to the previous month. The overwhelming majority were led by university students staging encampment-style demonstrations on their campuses.
Though campus demonstrations increased by more than 36% in May, they remained overwhelmingly peaceful, and incidents of reported violence at these demonstrations declined compared to the previous month. The scale of violence also subsided, as large-scale brawls involving opposing groups of demonstrators, like the hours-long clashes at the University of California Los Angeles on 30 April, were not repeated in May. However, some notable incidents of violence did take place, as demonstrators clashed with police in at least five instances at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Arizona in Tucson, the State University of New York in New Paltz, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and New Mexico State University. On 1 May, a group called Rachel Corrie’s Ghost Brigade claimed responsibility for torching 15 Portland Police Bureau vehicles stationed at a police facility, an action they said was in solidarity with pro-Palestine student demonstrations. Meanwhile, on 7 May, an individual struck pro-Palestine demonstrators, who were gathered outside the homes of Columbia University trustees in Manhattan, with his vehicle, inflicting non-life-threatening injuries on a demonstrator, who was taken to the hospital.
In Canada, pro-Palestine demonstrations more than tripled compared to the previous month. This surge in demonstrations was led by students, who participated in more than 95% of all pro-Palestine demonstrations in May. As in the US, many student demonstrations took place in encampments on university campuses, which were held in over 20 cities spread across at least eight provinces. Student demonstrations on Canadian university campuses have remained overwhelmingly peaceful and have seen a much lower rate of police intervention than those in the US. At the University of Victoria’s campus encampment, an individual unaffiliated with the university assaulted demonstrators on multiple occasions over the course of two days before being barred from campus.
United States: Ongoing far-right militia, militant social movement, and white supremacist training events and other activities
Far-right militia, militant social movements, and white supremacist activity continued at a relatively steady rate compared to the previous month. In Arizona, the Dewey Preppers and the Lions of Liberty continued to conduct recruitment meetings. Meanwhile, outside a Trump rally in the Bronx, QAnon affiliates gathered in opposition to a pro-Palestine demonstration to show support for Trump and for Israel.
White supremacist mobilization in May followed similar patterns as in April. Members of the Ku Klux Klan distributed racist fliers in Ohio, while the Goyim Defense League distributed antisemitic fliers in Alabama, California, Illinois, and Virginia. Similarly, White Lives Matter affiliates dropped antisemitic fliers in Oregon and Pennsylvania and gathered for demonstrations on highway overpasses across at least six states. Patriot Front conducted banner drops and sparring training in at least 13 states and demonstrated on highway overpasses in Massachusetts, Vermont, Washington, and Texas, with the highest levels of activity concentrated in Washington and California.
Several ‘Active Clubs,’ groups loosely affiliated with the Rise Above Movement, also conducted sparring trainings this month in Utah, Idaho, and Minnesota. This marks their first recorded activity in Minnesota since ACLED coverage began in 2020. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Social Club was active in Massachusetts, participating in anti-immigrant demonstrations in Boston and Lexington and distributing fliers in Dennis, Massachusetts.
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For additional resources and in-depth coverage of demonstration and political violence trends across the US, check our dedicated US Crisis Monitor.
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