A world outraged supports Gaza demonstrations

Aug. 9 — Sometimes by the hundreds, sometimes by the thousands, sometimes even by the hundreds of thousands, people marched in city after city around the globe in support of the people of Gaza. Many were responding to a call by a coalition of Palestinian mass organizations to come out to support the movement for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel.

From London to Cape Town, from Paris to Amman, from Berlin to Tokyo, from Marseilles to Melbourne, from Delhi to Helsinki, from Dublin to Valencia to Bangkok, even to Tel Aviv, in many different languages, with chants and signs and banners, the world’s people sent one message loud and clear — stop the horrendous U.S.-sponsored Israeli onslaught against the besieged Palestinian people of Gaza!

In London, 150,000 people packed the main shopping artery of Oxford Street, marching first to the BBC headquarters, then to the U.S. embassy and finally to Hyde Park. Shouting “Free, free Palestine,” many held banners and signs that read “UK: Stop arming Israel” and “Shame on you, Barack Obama.”

There were also marches in Manchester, England and Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital.

Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said “We are calling for an end to the massacre and the recall of the U.K. parliament. Our government must be forced to end its support for Israel’s siege of Gaza.” (afp.com, Aug. 9)

Earlier that week, the Pakistani-British Baroness Warsi resigned from her cabinet post in Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in protest. She demanded an immediate halt to all arms exported to Israel. She told BBC News on Aug. 9 her thinking behind her action: “I think it was our lack of support for international justice and accountability for the crimes that have been committed.”

Some 1,500 people marched in the streets of Berlin. A manifesto was read and signed demanding an immediate end to the Israeli attacks.

Several thousands marched in Paris and Marseilles, France, defying the government’s attempts to make demonstrations supporting Gaza illegal.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a march of 50,000 in Cape Town, in what South African authorities called the largest post-apartheid demonstration in that country. The protesters demanded that the government stop selling arms to Israel. They chanted “Stop the slaughter!” and “Boycott apartheid Israel!”

Australia saw protests in both Melbourne and Sydney that numbered 2,000 people. Sheets of paper with the names of Gaza victims of Israeli attacks were posted on Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade buildings.

In Santiago, Chile, 15,000 people surrounded the Israeli embassy. Protesters glued faces of children from Gaza who had been killed on the walls of the embassy.

Hundreds marched outside the Israeli embassy in Mexico City. A group of children shouted, “We are kids and we want peace.”

Several hundred protesters marched through downtown Ottawa, the capital of Canada. A group of rabbis held a banner that read “Judaism rejects Zionism, the state of Israel and its atrocities.” There were also demonstrations in Montreal, Quebec; Hamilton, Ontario; and cities in Western Canada.

Oman, Malaysia, Bolivia, Iran, Yemen, Jordan, India — demonstrations were held in all these countries in support of the Palestinian people of Gaza and against the U.S.-equipped Israeli military’s brutal war.

The International Solidarity Movement launched an internet campaign in support of Gaza in Arabic, English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

A crowd of 500 anti-war activists flooded Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, defying an Israeli police ban on public gatherings. They shouted “Stop the massacre,” “Free Gaza,” “Funds to welfare, not to war,” “Build more classrooms, not more bombs” and “Gaza children want to live.” There have been weekly anti-war protests in Tel Aviv ever since the genocidal assault began.

Sources include the Guardian, the Times of Israel, RT, Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JFJFP.com), and many others.