Protest hits shoppers: ‘While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping’

Portland, Oregon

Militant pro-Palestinian demonstrations shut down streets, bridges and shopping malls on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve in Portland, Oregon. On Dec. 24, protesters marched through Pioneer Square Mall, went up and down the atrium escalators and circled the first and second balconies. They dropped large Palestinian flags over the balcony railing. 

Protesters occupy Portland’s Pioneer Mall on Christmas Eve 2023. WW Photo: Lyn Neeley

Demonstrators charged into Zara, an Israeli clothing chain. Zara clothing is made by super-exploited women workers in Bangladesh, Armenia and Morocco. On Oct. 24, Palestinians called for the boycott of Zara after the company hosted the far-right Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir for a campaign event.

Native dancers perform on the Morrison Street Bridge, connecting U.S. and Israeli settler colonialism, Dec.31, 2023. WW Photo: Lyn Neeley

A large coalition of Palestinian and activist groups is growing in Portland. On New Year’s Eve, over 1,000 protesters closed down the Morrison Bridge for over an hour, chanting: “Yemen, you make us proud! Turn another ship around!” and “In the millions and billions, we are all Palestinians.”

Workers World newspaper interviewed Shereen, a leading Palestinian organizer. She said, “Awareness is increasing by consistently holding demonstrations here. Portland’s Black Lives Matter movement targeted police institutions. Our resistance movement is targeting the national media.”

The U.S. media is boycotting the truth about the U.S./Israeli genocide taking place in Gaza.