Over 100 cultural activists demonstrated outside of the White House on Tuesday to protest the destruction of historically and culturally significant relics by the Islamic State (IS).
Some of the protesters were members of Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE), and grieved over news that the militants are destroying ancient artifacts in Iraq.
"I couldn't sleep that night," admitted SAFE affiliate Jabbar Jaafar, referring to the videotaped demolition of relics in Mosul last month. "These objects are as old as civilisation."
Jaafar and his colleague, Iraqi archeologist Abdulamir Al Hamdani, were two of the activists that protested in DC.
"ISIS is destroying the heritage of mankind," he continued. "These pieces - more than 3,000 years old - are gone forever. They can never be replaced."
The protests follow the destruction of three ancient cities by IS last weekend.
The Iraqi village of Khorsabad was targeted on Sunday, and officials remain concerned that the terrorists will remove artifacts from the city, which was founded around 720BC.
On Friday, the 3,000-year-old city of Nimrud was destroyed by IS, which UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called a "war crime."
"This is yet another attack against the Iraqi people, reminding us that nothing is safe from the cultural cleansing underway in the country," she said in a statement released Friday. "It targets human lives, minorities, and is marked by the systematic destruction of humanity's ancient heritage."
The 2,000-year-old city of Hatra was demolished by the militants on Saturday - another UNESCO world heritage site. The city contained numerous temples and sculptures dedicated to Apollo, Poseidon, and other gods. IS used military equipment to bulldoze the ancient sites.
The city of Baghdad has yet to be targeted by the militants, and is home to the National Museum of Iraq. The museum reopened on Saturday—earlier than scheduled—in response to the attacks on other Iraqi cultural institutions.
