The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that it has brought suit against New Jersey protesters for allegedly intimidating Jewish worshipers at a synagogue and “preventing their participation in lawful religious services.”

The protesters are accused of disrupting Jewish worship at Congregation Ohr Torah in West Orange in November 2024. The group is also alleged to have previously deterred Dr. Moshe Glick, a healthcare professional, from hosting the event at his home, causing it to be relocated to the synagogue. The protesters published Glick’s home address on social media in connection with flyers about a protest during the scheduled event.

The indictment describes a “religious” event at the synagogue, although the protest was called to oppose an event promoting real estate sales in Israel and the occupied West Bank. Glick himself faced local assault charges over a clash with the protesters outside the event.

The DOJ claims that the protesters violated 18 USC § 248(a)(2), also known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which prohibits anyone who “by force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes…with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise…religious freedom at a place of…worship.” The indictment names two activist organizations and six individual protesters.

The DOJ also alleged that the protesters are “likely to continue to commit violations of the FACE Act,” which bars interference with those who are lawfully exercising their religious freedom. The activist groups named in the indictment are the New Jersey chapters of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and American Muslims for Palestine. The DOJ is seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties and compensatory damages.

In a press conference, the DOJ noted that the FACE Act was originally intended to silence pro-life demonstrators who protested at the entrances of abortion clinics and had previously been used to enforce civil penalties in that context.