Did Truck Run Over Pro-Palestinian Protesters? Truth Behind Viral Video

Amid the Israel-Hamas war, a video showing a truck drive through a crowd of protesters has made its way across social media on Wednesday, claiming it drove through pro-Palestinian protesters in California.

On October 7, militant group Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israel in history. In response, Israel subsequently launched its heaviest airstrikes against Gaza. As of Wednesday, at least 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli government. More than 18,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, the AP said.

Since then, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests have been seen around the globe as tensions escalate with many calling for a lasting ceasefire amid the rising death toll in the conflict. In addition, authorities across the globe have been on high alert for violence driven by Islamophobic or antisemitic sentiment, with Muslim and Jewish groups reporting a rise in hateful rhetoric.

On Wednesday, a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, showing a truck driving through protesters has gone viral as it claims it ran through today's pro-Palestinian protest on the 110 freeway in Los Angeles, California.

However, the video is actually from a Black Lives Matter protest in Oklahoma in 2020 at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement amid the COVID-19 pandemic in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police brutality.

In actuality, on Wednesday, dozens of protesters organized by a progressive Jewish activist group, IfNotNow, blocked the southbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday morning as they called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Bringing traffic to a standstill, protesters linked arms at about 9 a.m. as backups extended to nearby streets and freeways.

California Highway Patrol officers were detaining the protesters around 10 a.m., leading them to over two dozen police cruisers on the freeway.

Newsweek reached out to the California Highway Patrol via email for comment.

The 110 Freeway connects downtown Los Angeles with Long Beach to the south and San Gabriel Valley to the northeast.

In videos posted by organizers, the protesters stretched across the freeway wearing black shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Not In Our Name" on the front and "Jews Say Cease Fire now" on the back.

In another video posted to X, Sergio Olmos, a freelance journalist, reported that "some commuters began physically pushing and grappling protesters on the 110 freeway," as videos show several alterations taking place on the freeway.

This follows previous protests organized by the group in November that shut down a Hollywood intersection and during President Joe Biden's visit to Los Angeles last week.

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