‘Day of Rage’ Protests on Oct. 13: US Braces for Demonstrations as France Uses Tear Gas To Break up Crowds

Protests broke out around the world Friday as Hamas leadership called for a "Day of Rage" against Israel's response to the terror attacks that killed at least 1,300 people, most of them unarmed civilians.

The demonstrations came in a westward wave, as tens of thousands demonstrated across the Middle East, then in Europe, with the United States expected to follow later Friday.

Security was stepped up in cities across the U.S. with possible unrest looming, including in New York City where every police officer was ordered to report for duty.

As violent clashes continued between Israel and Hamas, Israelis living abroad and the wider Jewish community were now warned to be on alert in their home cities across the globe.

'Send a Message ... a Message of Rage'

The global campaign was sparked by Khaled Meshaal, a former leader of the political branch of the terrorist organization, who is now based in Qatar.

“Send a message from the streets and squares [in Arab countries]," Meshaal said in his call earlier this week. "A message of rage that we stand with Palestine, Gaza, Al-Aqsa mosque, and Jerusalem, and that we are part of this battle."

Meshaal also called for Arabs to participate in "jihad" by making donations to support the terrorist group and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

US Cities on Heightened Alert

New York City, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. have all reportedly enhanced security around both Jewish and Muslim sites since the war broke out, with all NYPD officers ordered to report for duty on Friday.

New York's all-hands call was not issued in response to a specific threat, but rather the expected public demonstrations, an NYPD spokesperson told The Messenger.

U.S. law-enforcement authorities, meanwhile, are closely watching international developments for possible implications at home.

"I think everybody is pretty well attuned to the different ways in which the conflict could expand — in northern France, involving Lebanese Hezbollah, other actors in the region becoming involved," one anonymous Department of Homeland Security official reportedly said during a recent briefing, according to CBS News.

"Each of those, were they to materialize, would have potential implications for our homeland security." 

Tensions Across US Campuses

Jewish students at the University of Washington in Seattle were seen on video imploring school officials to break up a pro-Palestintian rally on Thursday, a sign of the rising tensions on college campuses that could continue Friday.

“How is it allowed?” one student asked a man believed to be a school official, while others attempted to console her. “How are you allowing this? Why aren’t you putting a stop to it?"

Similar scenes unfolded Thursday at several schools across the country, including the University of Arizona, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and New York City's Brooklyn and Hunter colleges.

France Uses Tear Gas on Pro-Palestine Group

French police on Thursday deployed tear gas and water cannons to disperse a pro-Palestine protest in Paris, which came together despite a national ban.

Several hundred demonstrators had gathered in central Paris, Reuters reported, in defiance of a ban instituted by the country's interior minister, Gérald Darmanin.

Darmanin said that such gatherings were "likely to generate disturbances to public order."

Protesters reportedly chanted “Israel murderer” and “Macron accomplice," in reference to French President Emmanuel Macron, who has expressed solidarity with Israel following the Hamas attacks.

Fatal France School Stabbing Eyed as Terror

Elsewhere in France, a knife-wielding man fatally stabbed a teacher and wounded two other people in a Friday attack on a school that's now being probed by anti-terrorism prosecutors.

The suspect — who was not immediately identified by name but described as a Russian-born Chechen — was a former student of the school in the northern city of Arras, according to reports.

The suspect, who was on a watchlist for people regarded as potential security risks, allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack, according to a police officer who was one of the first to arrive at the scene.

Visiting the school hours later, French President Emmanuel Macron said that police also thwarted an “attempted attack” in another French region after the teacher's fatal stabbing.

With Associated Press