Police arrest 60 pro-Palestine demonstrators after calls for ceasefire erupt in Capitol Rotunda

WASHINGTON - U.S. Capitol Police officers arrested about 60 people after a protest broke out in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday, police tell FOX 5. 

According to the Muslim civil rights organization CAIR, members of their organization were part of a coalition of pro-Palestine demonstrators who gathered in the building to call for a ceasefire and demand "an end to US support for the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza." 

Capitol Police said they were aware that a group was planning to stage a demonstration. 

They were allowed into the Rotunda and were screened as usual but police said once they began to protest, they were arrested. 

"We were aware of a group’s potential plan to take a tour of the U.S. Capitol Building and then start a protest. It is against the law to demonstrate inside the Congressional Buildings, so we brought in additional officers to be prepared for the moment the group would break the law. The group was screened when they entered the building. Once they broke the law, roughly 60 people were immediately arrested for D.C. Code § 22–1307 - Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding," USCP said in a statement to FOX 5.