Anti-Israel protesters shut down O’Hare airport by blocking freeway – as video shows frustrated passengers abandoning their taxis and cars and walking 20 MINUTES to the terminal
- A group of anti-Israel protesters have blocked the entrance to Chicago’s O’Hare airport
- Video shows them sitting and standing as they bonded
- Frustrated travelers left their cars and walked to their terminals with their luggage
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Anti-Israel protesters shut down Chicago’s O’Hare airport as they blocked the freeway, leaving passengers frustrated.
At around 8:23 a.m. Monday, protesters sat in the middle of the Kennedy Expressway, connected to each other by PVC pipes, while people fled their taxis and cars and walked 20 minutes to their terminals.
Video of the protest showed the protesters chanting: ‘Palestine will be free! Free, free Palestine!’ with a loud drum beat in the background.
One image showed a long line of people as they blocked the road entrance to the airport.
All lanes of I-90 were closed between Bessie Coleman Drive and the airport, but according to O’hare International Airport, inbound traffic on the freeway has resumed.
Anti-Israel protesters have shut down Chicago’s O’Hare airport as they blocked the freeway, leaving passengers frustrated
Monday around 8:23 a.m. Protesters sat in the middle of the Kennedy Expressway, connected to each other by PVC pipes. They are seen with stop signs around their necks that say ‘Stop genocide’
“Please allow extra time if traveling to the airport this morning,” the airport said in a post on X.
Protesters stopped lines of traffic as some motorists were seen sitting on top of their cars. Police vehicles were present at the scene.
Many of the protesters were seen wearing keffiyeh scarves as they chanted and waved signs reading ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop Genocide.’
As they chanted, angry drivers began honking their horns, while others got out of their vehicles and jumped the guardrail to reach their planes.
The protest, which was organized by the Chicago Dissenters, said they decided to block the airport because it is ‘one of the largest in the country’ that should not be going on ‘while Palestinians suffer from US-funded bombing by Israel. ‘
They decided to target the airport in an attempt to ‘disrupt Boeing’s operations’ because the aircraft manufacturer is ‘sending fighter jets and bombs to support Israel’s bombardment of Gaza’.
“ON THIS DAY OF TAXATION THERE WILL BE NO BUSINESS AS USUAL WHILE THE GAZANS ARE DYING,” the group said in an Instagram post.
An angry female traveler raised her middle finger at the protesters as she walked to the airport and shouted: ‘F*** you!’
Lines of traffic have come to a standstill in front of the group as police vehicles are seen at the scene
Chicago Dissenters posted a photo of a map showing road congestion as they blocked traffic Monday morning outside the airport
An angry female traveler raised her middle finger at the protesters as she walked to the airport and shouted: ‘F*** you!’
Another passenger was seen pushing a protester as he threw his bags over the guardrail.
As people got out of the cars, the protesters guided them to the side of the road and instructed them to leave that road.
“We have protesters who are putting their bodies on the line, they will not move until they are physically removed,” one organizer said in a video.
The group also posted a picture of a map showing the congestion on the road as they blocked traffic, saying: ‘It’s day 191 of the genocide in Gaza and we’re shutting the sh** down.’
People took to social media to comment on the protest, with one saying: ‘It’s past time to criminalize blocking interstate highways. 30 days in county jail is more than appropriate,’ noted Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Others commented that police officers did ‘nothing’.
One person commented: ‘Why do the police just stand there every time and allow these disturbances? Every. Single. Time.’