by Betsey Piette, published on Workers World, October 28, 2023
In the second week of relentless bombing of Gazan civilians by Israel, with the full backing and financing of President Joe Biden’s administration, protests continue in countless cities around the U.S. and abroad — and they’ve gotten larger. This roundup just touches the surface.
In a historic turnout for supporters of Palestine in Philadelphia, an estimated 10,000 people from Palestinian and other communities rallied at City Hall, then marched up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Oct. 21. People filled the steps and streets in front of the museum with their cell phone flashlights on.
Speakers promised more marches and rallies until Israel’s siege of Gaza is stopped, until U.S. funding of the apartheid state is ended and until all of Palestine is finally free. The Philadelphia Palestine Coalition organized this and many other events in the last few weeks. Full photo coverage is available at: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAZnF5
Over 2,000 Palestinians and their supporters rallied in downtown Cleveland on Oct. 21. Afterwards they marched across the Detroit-Superior Bridge that crosses the Cuyahoga River to connect the city’s East and West Sides.
Over 1,000 people answered the Palestine Coalition’s call to come to the state Capitol in Denver on Oct. 21 to support the struggle of the Palestinian people and to demand a ceasefire and end of the Israeli bombing and slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The protesters demanded the opening of a humanitarian corridor to supply food, water and medicine due to catastrophic siege conditions that Israel has placed on the people of Gaza since Oct. 8, intensifying a 16-year-long blockade.
Demonstrators also demanded that the U.S. government stop sending billions in arms to Israel and resolve the basic issue of a state for Palestinians to live free, not under occupation. Other demonstrations of hundreds of people took place earlier this week in Washington Park and at U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette’s office in Denver.
Over 600 students and community members rallied for an end to the occupation in Gaza and marched for over an hour on the Portland campus of Oregon State University on Oct. 19. The demonstration was organized by SUPER (Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights). Over 1,000 people, mostly young, rallied and marched on Oct. 21, stopping traffic for two miles across the Morrison Bridge and up Broadway. It was organized by a coalition of youth groups.
Contributing to this article: Martha Grevatt, Lyn Neeley, Joe Piette and Viviana Weinstein.