Protests in the
United States and Around the World for Palestinians
Articles and Photos from
Indymedia Sites
Atlanta:
Georgia Protests for Palestinians in Thunderstorm
by
March for Palestinians • Sunday March 31, 2002 at 01:45 AM
In
a thunderstorm with drenching rain, 200 people in Atlanta, Georgia picketed
the Israeli consulate. One wonders how many Israeli consulates there are in
the US. Our movement is beyond the major Northern cities; it is everywhere.
Atlanta, Saturday, Mar. 30th-
Despite a torrential downpour well over 200 people participated in the
Palestinian Land Day demonstration and March. The event was organized by the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and co-sponsored by many others
including American Friends Service Committee. The first Palestinian Land Day
occurred on March 30, 1976. According to organizers, "it was the first time
that Palestinian Israelis held massive demonstrations to protest the
confiscation of their land."
This year's event called for an end to the occupation and the violence.
Huddled under umbrellas before the Nelson Mandela Stone in Piedmont Park, the
group strained to hear speakers over the rumble of thunder. Much anger and
energy was focused on Israeli Prime Minister Sharon who many feel is
responsible for the recent escalation of violence against the Palestinian
people.
After the park rally the group marched on the sidewalk to the Israeli
consulate located several blocks away on Spring street. Although the
protestors were soaked to the bone spirits were not dampened. Their chants of
"Palestinians are People Too" and "No Justice, No Peace" drew the attention of
drivers and brought neighborhood residents to their windows.
The marchers had some difficulty negotiating the traffic and flooding at
intersections but they arrived safely at the consulate without police
interference. The group then lined both sides of the street waving signs and
Palestinian flags. At one point 3 or 4 police showed up but only told the
demonstrators to stay out of the road. After a moment of silence and singing
"We Shall Overcome" the group dispersed but expressed its intent to
demonstrate again.
source:
http://www.atlanta.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=4398&group=webcast
Chicago:
More than two hundred fifty protesters marched from the Tribune Plaza to the
Israeli Consulate on East Wacker Drive Monday evening to oppose the
Israeli occupation of Palestine and the latest round of Israeli atrocities
against Palestinians. Chicago’s Palestinian and Pakistani communities turned
out in large numbers for the action, which was endorsed by more than a dozen
local anti-war and social justice groups. Core demands included an immediate
end to the Israeli occupation, a halt to U.S. military and economic assistance
to the Sharon government, and support for justice and independence for the
Palestinian people.
Over 100 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the last
week, apparently in an effort to fulfill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
threat to 'beat' the Palestinians into submission. Casualties continued to
rise over the weekend. Monday, Israeli forces pushed into Jabalya refuge camp
with more than 30 tanks and arrested hundreds of Palestinians, with total
Israeli arrests in occupied Palestine in the last day numbering more than a
thousand. Eyewitnesses characterized the mass round-ups as ‘Nazi-like’.
The International Red Cross and the Red Crescent Society have also decried the
Israeli military's recent targeting of Palestinian ambulances and health care
workers, three of whom have been killed in the most recent wave of violence.
Some community leaders have been reluctant to stage protests at the Israeli
Consulate in the wake of September 11, but Monday’s marchers – particularly
Palestinians and Muslims – said the community could no longer be silent about
the brutality of the occupation. “We cannot be quiet any longer in the face of
daily Israeli atrocities against our people,†said one woman, who came with
her grown daughter to the march. “I am a refuge myself,†said another man,
“and I am here to support my fellow refugees and fellow Palestinians. It is
only by speaking out against the injustice of the occupation that we will win
freedom and dignity for Palestinians – or for any oppressed people.â€
Organizers of Monday’s action also urged marchers to support a national call
to protest Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s planned visit to Washington,
D.C. on April 22. Many in Monday’s action have committed to traveling to
Washington for the protest.
Endorsers of Monday's protest included the Arab American Media Guild; the
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network; the Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism
Emergency Response Committee; the Chicago Islamic Center; the Committee for a
Democratic Palestine; Granada Muslims and Jews for Human Rights; International
Action Center; International ANSWER Coalition; International Socialist
Organization; Islamic Association for Palestine; National Lawyers Guild -
Chicago; the Palestine Aid Society; Palestinian-American Council; Prairie Fire
Organzing Committee; Worker's World Party - Chicago; and the 8th Day Center
for Justice.
source:
http://chicago.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8599&group=webcast
New
York: New Yorkers Join Int'l Solidarity Movement In Palestine
(Updated 3/31) A delegation of 10 New York City activists have joined
the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine in an effort to use
non-violent direct action tactics to help end the illegal Israeli
occupationThe two-week campaign began Thursday as the Israeli military assault
reached new extremes. Ariel Sharron pledged "an extended operation against
Palestinian territories" and activated 20,000 military reservists. Some 600
internationals, mostly from Europe, are acting as legal observers and human
shields across the occupied territory including Ramallah where Israeli forces
attacked Yasser Arafat’s compound. On Saturday, in New York, hundreds
protested against the Israeli aggression. Also here the
United Nations Security Council unanimously called for Israel to withdraw
its troops from Palestinian cities.
source:
http://nyc.indymedia.org
San Francisco:
Hundreds March for Palestine in SF on 3/30
by March for Palestinians
• Saturday March 30, 2002 at 04:32 PM
On a beautiful, warm, spring day in San Francisco, March
30, 2002, hundreds of people of all ages and colors marched for Palestinian
Land Day on San Francisco's main thoroughfare, Market Street, from the
Financial District to the Civic Center.
On
a beautiful, warm, spring day in San Francisco, March 30, 2002, hundreds of
people of all ages and colors marched for Palestinian Land Day on San
Francisco's main thoroughfare, Market Street, from the Financial District to
the Civic Center.
Most impressive was the enthusiasm of the young people who proudly waved the
many Palestinian flags, while one senior citizen in a wheelchair carried an
American peace flag, with the peace symbol replacing the stars.
Our political messages were reflected in our wide variety of signs and
banners, as well as in our chants. Some of those chants were: No justice, no
peace; US out of the Middle East; Bush, Sharon, you can't hide, we charge you
with genocide; Hey Hey, Ho Ho, The Occupation has got to go; Falasteen
Arabiyeh! Thawra, Thawra Shaabiyeh!-Palestine is forever Arab, hail to the
people's popular revolution!
Among the many pieces of literature available was a leaflet with the text of a
milestone resolution passed by the San Francisco Labor Council on March 11,
2002, condemning the February 17, 2002 "bombing of the headquarters of the
Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions by US-supplied and paid-for
Israeli F-16 jets, which continue to bomb civilian and Palestinian political
targets, against US legal restrictions." The full text of this historic
resolution, which was unthinkable just a few years ago, can be seen at:
http://www.jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/03/1224.php
At
the end of our march, we were treated to a wide variety of speeches by people
from other liberation struggles, such as those of the Philippines and Puerto
Rico. Perhaps the most poignant was the speech in Arabic and English of a
young Palestinian girl from a refugee camp, about 13 years old, wearing a
beautiful ankle-length, embroidered dress. Her understanding of the struggle
was sharp and profound. It is for her generation that we must all carry on the
struggle until we have a socialist, secular Palestine, thus guaranteeing peace
in the Middle East.
ources:
www.jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/03/1224.php
http://sf.indymedia.org
Washington DC
Palestinians and Allies
Rally in DC
by Mobile SF-IMCista
• Saturday March 30, 2002 at 03:51 PM
salem@indymedia.org
Audio
from todays rally against the zionist occupation of Palestine
Listen to audio from today's rally against the Israeli aggression against
Palestinians. As a warm up event for the shut down Sharon in DC actions in DC
from April 19th-22nd over 1400 people rallied to support the Palestinians
people in Freedom Plaza.
information on april
actions go to
http://www.sustaincampaign.org
link to audio from rally:
http://dc.indymedia.org/audio/dcimc.pls
sources:
dc.indymedia.org/audio/dcimc.pls
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/03/119995.php
Seattle:
A picture of
Palestinian Land Day protest in Seattle yesterday. 300 people.
source:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/
Around the World:
Pro-Palestinian protests in European cities
by AFP -repost, Chicago IMC
• Saturday March 30, 2002 at 01:54 PM
Repost from the AFP wire:
Thousands of people marched in support of the Palestinian people and their
besieged leader Yasser Arafat in France, Germany and other European -
countries Saturday, as Israel continued its operations against the Palestinian
Authority.
In central Paris around 1,000 people demonstrated in a protest against
the "logic of war" of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.
- In Lyon, France's second city, police said around 5,500 people took
part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
- In the German capital Berlin around 800 people took part in a
pro-Palestinian rally.
- Security around Jewish establishments was increased in the city amid fears
that there might be an anti-Jewish backlash related to events in the Middle
East.
- In Strasbourg in eastern France, between 2,000 and 3,000 people from
France as well as from nearby Germany and Belgium took part in a protest
called by the Party of French Muslims (PMF).
Its president, Mohamed Laprecje said: "Our goal is to give our support to the
Intifada (the Palestinian uprising), to uplift a people in the face of a
colonizing army."
Organizers spoke out against some elements in the march who began shouting
anti-Jewish slogans, saying their fight was against Israel's policies and not
against Jews.
- In Marseille, in southern France, a city with a large Muslim
population, around 1,600 people demonstrated in favour of "respect for the
rights of the Palestinian people."
They shouted slogans against Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and US
President George W. Bush.
- Easter peace marches in Hanover, Munich, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart,
with between 250 and 1,000 protestors in each, also had a strong
pro-Palestinian element.
- In Bordeaux in southwestern France a pro-Palestinian demonstration of
around 300 people took place in the city centre.
- In Athens, Greece, around a dozen members of parliament demonstrated
in front of the Israeli Embassy and called for the withdrawal of Israeli
forces from Ramallah.
- The Israeli ambassador to Greece, David Shasson, refused to meet them and
said in a statement that, "while the protesters are upset by the Israeli army
actions, they showed no reaction to the terrorist attack in Netanya, which
took the lives of 21 Israelis during the Jewish Easter."
- Israel's current operations in the Palestinian territories are being carried
out in retaliation for the Netanya suicide bombing, which took place on
Wednesday.
ource:
http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/03/1355.php
