Pro-Palestinian protesters stage "die-in"

A protest in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday included dozens of people lying under red-stained sheets in a "die-in" simulating hundreds of Palestinians killed recently on the Gaza Strip.

About 175 protesters, holding placards and chanting, called for an end to U.S. support of Israel. There were no arrests, Minneapolis police said.

"We came here to support the Palestinian people and to condemn what's happening in Gaza right now by the Israeli military," said Marwa Ibrahim, a 15-year-old Egyptian immigrant living in Minneapolis.

She came with her mother and young siblings to the protest in response to Israel's major military offensive in the Palestinian territory toward the militant group Hamas over the past month.

Wednesday afternoon, the protesters gathered outside Sen. Amy Klobuchar's office.

The protesters then marched several blocks to the Star Tribune, where they staged a "die-in" and read aloud names of some of the dead and details of how they were slain.

In the past five weeks, Israel has turned up its offensive on the Gaza Strip. It's estimated nearly 1,900 Palestinians are dead, many of them children, and thousands more have been wounded. An estimated 64 Israeli soldiers were killed in the recent violence.

A similar protest July 30 at Sen. Al Franken's campaign headquarters in St. Paul led to about a dozen arrests. Some of those protesters allegedly jumped on tables, unplugged phones, banged on windows and caused other disruptions.