Michael Snow, Jr., 25, of Durham, North Carolina, was sentenced on May 9 to four months of probation and 40 hours of community service for his involvement in a pro-Hamas protest outside Union Station in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2024, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Snow, who pleaded guilty to the offense in February, was also ordered to pay $525 in restitution for the destruction of federal property, JNS reported, citing the US Justice Department.
The protest unfolded in Columbus Circle outside Union Station, where Snow was filmed burning a US government-owned American flag. In the footage, Snow is seen seizing one of two US flags that had been lowered by other protestors from flagpoles, before throwing it onto the ground. He then attempted to set the flag on fire using a lighter, struggling briefly before another protester handed him a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid, which Snow and another individual used to ignite the flag.
The protesters also defaced several statues and structures on federal property with pro-Hamas graffiti, and replaced US flags with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flags.
The National Park Service estimated that the cost of cleaning and repairing the damage amounted to $11,282.23.