Protesters in support of Palestine gather outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Protesters called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Protesters in support of Palestine gather outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Protesters called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Protesters in support of Palestine gather on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9 The protest included chants such as “cease fire now” and “Biden, Biden you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.”

Protesters raise their fists outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was chanted throughout the protest, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Abdullah Elagha gathers with the Colorado Palestine Coalition outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” Elagha said. “The reason that this phrase terrifies the absolute hell out of Zionists is because they think that we will do to them what they did to us for 75 years.”

Protesters listen to a speech from Abdullah Elagha with the Colorado Palestine Coalition outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was chanted throughout the protest.

Protesters gather outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Protesters echoed chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” throughout the protest, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Demands included no business as usual until Palestine is free.

A protester in support of Palestine gathers outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Protesters echoed chants of “free Palestine” throughout the protest, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Layel Benghuzzi protests outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “I’m out here to raise awareness for Palestine and make sure that people know what’s going on isn’t just a little issue, but it’s a genocide,” Benghuzzi said.

Leigh Crespo protests outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “I’m from the Bronx, New York; I’m 45 right now, and my first protest, I was 18, and it was in front of the U.N., and it was about Palestine,” Crespo said. “All I saw was signs about freedom, and that’s all I needed to join them. … Now to be 45 and see that they’re still struggling is flabbergasting to me, so I had to come.”

A protester gathers outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut It Down For Palestine’ protest Nov. 9. Protesters echoed chants of “the people united, will never be defeated” throughout the protest, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Shaden Mobsher protests outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut It Down For Palestine protest Nov. 9. “I’m out here because I’m a Muslim, and also I’m from a country that is also suffering from war (Sudan),” Mobsher said. “It sucks to see Palestinians that are over here fighting for their lives, and it’s so one-sided, and they’re saying Hamas is a terrorist group, but they’re not seeing that the (Israel Defense Forces) is also a terrorist group, and I don’t stand with that.”

Protesters in support of Palestine engage with police officers after an incident between Palestinian protesters and a protester in support of Israel outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver Nov. 9.

Noura Rayyam protests in support of Palestine outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. “I am tired of seeing my people suffer, and it has been 75 years of ethnic cleansing — more if you count the early settlements when it was the Ottoman mandates, British Mandates,” Rayyam said.

A Palestine flag with a depiction of the Dome of the Rock flies above protesters during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest outside the Denver Capitol building Nov. 9.

A protester in support of Palestine stands outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. Protesters chanted, “Polis, Polis you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.”

A protester in support of Palestine stands outside the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest with a sign reading, “Never again is right now,” Nov. 9.

A protester in support of Palestine stands on a pillar at the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during the Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9. The protest included chants such as “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Protesters in support of Palestine stand on ledges alongside stairs to the Colorado Capitol building in Denver during a Shut it Down for Palestine protest Nov. 9.