Police seek protesters who struck officer
Fundraiser disrupted by pro-Palestinian group
Milwaukee Police Department officials said Tuesday that they are asking the public for help in identifying who punched a Milwaukee officer while he was responding to a call about proPalestinian protesters who had disrupted a fundraiser for U.S. Tammy Baldwin on Sunday.
In a statement, MPD officials said they are investigating a case of battery of a police officer that occurred at about 12:50 p.m. Sunday in the 200 block of West Wisconsin Avenue. The statement implies that more than one suspect may have been involved in the incident.
“Officers were attempting to disperse a group of disorderly demonstrators from a private event, when the suspects struck an officer. Milwaukee Police continue to seek unknown suspects,” said the statement.
Anyone with information on the incident was asked to call Milwaukee police at (414) 935-7360, or to remain anonymous, people may contact Crime Stoppers at (414) 224-Tips. Officials have not named the officer.
According to the Baldwin campaign, she was holding a birthday fundraiser at the downtown 3rd Street Market Hall on Sunday afternoon when a group of about 20 pro-Palestinian protesters entered the event uninvited.
The demonstrators, who had a bullhorn, directed criticism at Baldwin, who is up for re-election in November, and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who was among an estimated 80 people at the event. Johnson is up for re-election in Tuesday’s primary and in the April general election.
Sources told the Journal Sentinel that one of the officers who responded to the call was punched by a protester after she asked him about his ethnicity. The officer said he had a Palestinian background, and the female demonstrator hit him, saying he was on the wrong side of the dispute.
The officer was said to be injured but not seriously.
“Striking a police officer is never acceptable,” said Andrew Mamo, a spokesman for Baldwin. “On Sunday, a group of protesters barged into an event they were not invited to. They were asked to leave and refused. Police were called. The protesters were removed and the event proceeded as planned.”
An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been displaced during Israel’s retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis. More than 28,000 Palestinians have died in the Israeli military campaign, according to the Gaza health ministry.