A man from Illinois was arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting two police officers during protests in Washington, D.C., against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress in July, The Associated Press reported.
Zachary Allen Kam, 24, from Chicago, was taken into custody in Illinois on assault charges. He is reportedly the third individual to face charges related to the July 24 protest at Columbus Circle, located in front of Washington’s Union Station.
According to a police affidavit, US Park Police officers were in the process of arresting someone for pulling down a flagpole at the protest when Kam approached one of the officers, pulled him down, and dragged him several feet. This left the officer with bruises and scrapes.
Kam allegedly vanished into the crowd but returned moments later, targeting another officer and pulling them to the ground, the affidavit says. Police arrested Kam about four hours later near John Marshall Park.
Last week, Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi from Virginia was arrested for allegedly spray-painting graffiti on a monument in Washington, D.C., during the July 24 protests.
On that day, some protesters near Union Station took down American flags and replaced them with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags. Others burned flags and defaced structures in Columbus Circle, in front of the station, with graffiti.
While protesters had a permit to demonstrate at Union Station, the US Park Police revoked it after failing to reach the event organizers that afternoon. The National Park Service estimated that cleanup and repairs for damages at the site exceeded $11,000.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Yom Kippur in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)