White pro-Palestinian protester melts down after cop accuses her of 'cultural appropriation'

A pro-Palestine protester was caught in a furious meltdown after a police officer accused her of 'cultural appropriation'. 

The moment was caught on video at Union Station in Washington DC amid protests reacting to a visit by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

After being asked if her scarf was 'cultural appropriation', the protester reacted in shock and argued that she was 'trying to stop a genocide'. 

'In what way? How is that [the scarf] appropriating Palestinian culture?' she fired back. 

The cop asked her to repeat the question and then laughed, responding, 'You tell me.' 

'You're the one who said it! You're the one who said I was appropriating Palestinian culture by wearing a keffiyeh scarf'. 

The officer then pressed her on whether she was Palestinian, and she clarified that she wasn't, but supported the country's fight for liberation. 

She argued that the scarf wasn't appropriation, but 'appreciation' for the Palestinian culture. 

Cultural appropriation occurs when people of a majority group adopt traditions or elements of a minority group that can be exploitative or offensive. 

The protester added that she received the scarf from a Palestinian friend and was wearing it to show 'solidarity' against the genocide. 

She began filming the interaction with the officer on her phone while another protester with a sign interjected into the conversation. 

The second protester came to the woman's defense and agreed that the keffiyeh scarf is a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

A keffiyeh scarf is a traditional Arab headdress. The scarf's significance has changed over time.

It was traditionally worn to identify nomadic men in historic Palestine, Wafa Ghnaim, a Palestinian dress expert and a senior research fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, previously told NPR. 

The scarf was worn as a political statement for the first time in 1936 during the Arab Revolt in Palestine for independence from British rule. 

The keffiyeh has become popularized in recent years as a statement of solidarity or a symbol of freedom. 

The tense interaction between the pro-Palestinian protester and the police officer has gone viral online amid demonstrations in Washington DC. 

Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller were met with protesters at Union Station on Wednesday during a lunch with National Guard members. 

The three planned on serving members hamburgers at the station's Shake Shack, but were interrupted by demonstrators protesting against President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to DC. 

There were also protesters in the crowd demonstrating for Palestine. The trio dismissed the protesters, with Miller calling them: 'Stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they're all over 90 years old.' 

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