Michael Snow Jr., 25, of Durham, N.C., was sentenced to four months of probation and 40 hours of community service on May 9 for his part in a pro-Hamas protest outside Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The protest occurred during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on July 24, 2024.
Snow burned a U.S. government-owned American flag, for which he was ordered to pay $525 in restitution for destruction of federal property, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Snow pleaded guilty to the offense in February. Video posted to social media showed him grabbing one of two U.S. flags lowered by protestors from flagpoles in Columbus Circle, outside the train station, and carrying it into the crowd of protesters.
The video shows Snow throwing the flag onto the ground, pulling out a lighter and struggling to set the flag ablaze. Another protester handed him a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid, which he and another rioter used to set the flag on fire.
Protesters also sprayed pro-Hamas graffiti on multiple statues and structures on the federal property and replaced U.S. flags with Palestinian ones.
The National Park Service estimated that the total cost to clean up and repair the site was $11,282.23.