Scenes of pro-Palestinian demonstrators shaking the White House gate and defacing statues throughout the District resulted in a single arrest Saturday as thousands descended on the nation’s capital to protest for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war.

D.C.’s Metropolitan Police said a man was arrested for destruction of property on the 700 block of 17th Street Northwest.

That’s in the area of Lafayette Square, where videos were taken of protesters spray painting graffiti and strapping Palestinian flags to statues of Andrew Jackson and General Marquis de Lafayette. 

D.C. police also said the department was investigating acts of vandalism that damaged police vehicles and the McPherson Square Metro Station, but D.C. police confirmed Sunday that no additional arrests have been made related to the demonstrations.

“The Metropolitan Police Department handles hundreds of protests, demonstrations, and other events every year, and we support and facilitate people safely and peacefully exercising their First Amendment right to protest,” Acting Chief Pamela Smith said in a Saturday statement.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said no one was taken into custody when protesters began pushing against and trying to climb a White House gate.

Videos taken from the demonstration showed that part of the White House gate was splotched with red paint.

Another video showed a protester putting a keffiyeh, or head scarf, around a statue of Benjamin Franklin on 12 Street NW.    

The demonstration saw thousands of people flood the District to protest U.S. involvement in the war between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist organization that runs the formal government in the Gaza strip.

Hamas was behind the Oct. 7 attack that set off the war when insurgents killed large numbers of civilians, including elderly and children. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed so far in the conflict.

Roughly 9,500 Palestinians have been killed during subsequent attacks by Israel, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

Saturday’s protest, called the “National March on Washington: Free Palestine” rally, saw participants repeatedly take swipes at President Biden’s pledge to send $14 billion in aid to Israel.

Chants of “Biden, Biden you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Genocide Joe has got to go!” rang out from the crowd during the march.

Speakers hammered Israel’s retaliatory attacks as genocide at the march’s rally point in Freedom Plaza.

“They told me to be quiet, they told me to do my research, to go back, that it’s too complex to say something, to be silent in this moment,” rapper Macklemore said during a speech at the rally. “In the last three weeks, I’ve gone back and I have done some research, I’m teachable … I don’t know everything, but I know enough to know that this is a genocide.”

Marchers also shouted “Allahu Akbar” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” with the latter chant largely seen as an anti-semitic call to get rid of the Jewish state and its people.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.