DOJ sues over pro-Palestinian protest, using law on abortion clinic access

30/9/2025 6:30

The U.S. Justice Department is suing pro-Palestinian organizations and demonstrators it accuses of intimidating Jewish worshipers at a New Jersey synagogue, using a U.S. law that has traditionally been used against people blocking access to abortion clinics. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in New Jersey federal court, alleges that a November protest against an event at a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, billed as a spiritual service and Israel real estate fair, escalated into violence.



Demonstrators physically assaulted some worshippers and chanted and used vuvuzelas - plastic trumpets sometimes used by soccer fans - to disrupt the event, according to the complaint.



The case was brought under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, a 1994 law that prohibits the use of force and physical obstruction to interfere with people at reproductive health centers or houses of worship.