re: Explain these protests to me like I’m 5

There is a very small but loud pro-Palestine (read: pro-Hamas or pro-radical-Islam) faction in the US that is growing every day thanks to the open borders and media sympathy supported by the Left.

There are also those who are useful idiots who look for some conflict to give their lives meaning.

There are also those who make their living being paid protestors, just showing up somewhere to hold signs and chant whatever they are told.

There are also those with billions of dollars (see: George Soros, for example) who are funding groups to protest on behalf of anything which hurts the US, especially in an election year.

All of these have come together to, essentially, protest against Israel's war on Gaza (which was triggered by the Hamas attacks of October 7th).