WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Protests were held in both Virginia and D.C. Friday afternoon. In Georgetown, they marched along M Street where many people were shopping on Black Friday.
The groups waved Palestinian flags and yelled "Free, Free, Gaza," "Free, Free, Palestine," and "No shopping, while bombs are dropping!"
Outside Tysons Corner Center in McLean, another group marched and chanted. A line of vehicles could be seen with Palestinian flags waving.
"We're calling for an immediate unconditional ceasefire," said Yasin Shami, who told WUSA9 he's with the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Some posted on social media that they had been stuck in traffic for hours. One X user posted that they were stuck in the Tysons parking garage because of the protest.
Groups targeted these popular shopping spots on Black Friday for a specific reason.
"It is obviously a really big consumer spending day. They want us to go back to normal and spend all of our money. It doesn't feel right when so many people are dying, to go out and spend our money like normal," said one person at the protest in Georgetown.
"Business cannot continue as usual and there will be resistance to that," said Shami.
They told WUSA9 they want the United States to stop sending money to Israel and that they want an immediate ceasefire.
"It's really just a hopeless situation. Every day there isn't a ceasefire there are hundreds of thousands of Palestinians dying for no reason," said one of the protestors.
They also shared another message Friday night.
"Being pro-Palestinian doesn't mean that you're antisemitic. There are so many amazing Jewish groups that are being vocal about the Palestinian cause and it doesn't mean that you're discounting Jewish lives or Israeli lives. It's about fighting for Palestinian lives and saying no one should be killed senselessly," said one of the participants.
WUSA9 checked in with both the Fairfax County and Metropolitan Police Departments Friday night and were told no arrests were made at either of the protests.