Tag: demonstrator

‘Silence is complicity’: Protesters continue to rally for justice, understanding

[ad_1]

Nearly 1,000 protests across the country formed on Saturday following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon, by federal officers enforcing a Trump administration immigration crackdown.Protests, vigils and other “ICE Out For Good” events have taken place the past few days. Some protesters were criticizing members of the Trump administration, like U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.Video above: Candlelight vigil held to honor Renee GoodIn Savannah, Georgia, Kendra Clark said the protest is less about political parties and more about understanding each other.”When you start talking to people, what you realize is we all want the same things. And so that’s what we’re here to do today, is to bring people together and show that we’re all working together,” Clark said.Nearly 100 people joined the protest in Savannah Saturday.”Well, silence is complicity. And if I stay silent and sit still at home, then I’m asking for whatever’s going to happen,” protester Margie Standard said. “And with the way things are going, things aren’t happening very good.”Two were arrested in Savannah during the two-hour protest.Some people in Frankfurt, Kentucky, turned a different page for their protest. Nearly 160 protesters held a silent gathering to get their message across. Organizer Tona Barkley said the gathering was meant to give people a place to process and to show solidarity.“This, I think, is kind of a turning point and it’s very, very important for us to get out and to give people in our community a place in a way to express their grief and their outrage,” Barkley said.For some in attendance, the protest was also about what comes next for younger generations. Susan Goddard said her grandson has already noticed the impact in his classroom.“I asked him, when all that went down, you know, are there people at your school that not showing up? And he said, yes. And he doesn’t understand and it’s upsetting. He wanted to know why,” Goddard said.Things were a bit more rowdy in Florida as a 65-year-old Boca Raton man is facing two battery charges after an anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs protest became heated at an intersection west of Boca Raton on Saturday morning.Video below: Protesters physically confronted in FloridaThomas Landry was arrested Saturday morning, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.Louis Garcia, of Boynton Beach, who was wearing a “Firefighters for Biden/Harris” shirt, said there were about 200 protesters at the intersection, but he chose to go to another corner where there weren’t other people.”I had my back turned facing the eastbound traffic,” said Garcia, noting he was with two female protesters. “I was holding a large American flag and an impeach Trump sign.”All of a sudden, I heard a scream. He knocked the impeach Trump sign, knocked down a young woman.”This guy was coming up behind me, very cowardly. Punched me in the chest with closed fist. I was startled and told to back up. He kept moving forward. Went to swing at head and knocked off my helmet,” Garcia said.PBSO, which was nearby, was contacted and Landry was arrested on suspicion of battery of Garcia and a woman.Garcia said he didn’t sustain any injuries.Video below: Boston protesters rally for second day as new details surface in deadly Minnesota ICE shootingTwo rallies were held in Boston Saturday.Demonstrators demanded that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and other lawmakers sever all ties between state and local law enforcement and ICE, end the alleged immigration-to-incarceration pipeline, and help families impacted by ICE detentions.”An attack on a community member is an attack on all of us,” An Immigrant Justice Network statement read. “We keep each other safe — and we will continue to show up together until ICE is out of our communities.”The group said they were there to mourn those killed by immigration enforcement and to demand an end to ICE operations and local collaboration across the state.Boston police did not report any arrests at either protest.Things turned violent in Minnesota Friday night.A protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.””This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.”Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”

Nearly 1,000 protests across the country formed on Saturday following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis and the shooting of two people in Portland, Oregon, by federal officers enforcing a Trump administration immigration crackdown.

Protests, vigils and other “ICE Out For Good” events have taken place the past few days.

Some protesters were criticizing members of the Trump administration, like U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller.

Video above: Candlelight vigil held to honor Renee Good

In Savannah, Georgia, Kendra Clark said the protest is less about political parties and more about understanding each other.

“When you start talking to people, what you realize is we all want the same things. And so that’s what we’re here to do today, is to bring people together and show that we’re all working together,” Clark said.

Nearly 100 people joined the protest in Savannah Saturday.

“Well, silence is complicity. And if I stay silent and sit still at home, then I’m asking for whatever’s going to happen,” protester Margie Standard said. “And with the way things are going, things aren’t happening very good.”

Two were arrested in Savannah during the two-hour protest.

Some people in Frankfurt, Kentucky, turned a different page for their protest. Nearly 160 protesters held a silent gathering to get their message across.

Organizer Tona Barkley said the gathering was meant to give people a place to process and to show solidarity.

“This, I think, is kind of a turning point and it’s very, very important for us to get out and to give people in our community a place in a way to express their grief and their outrage,” Barkley said.

For some in attendance, the protest was also about what comes next for younger generations. Susan Goddard said her grandson has already noticed the impact in his classroom.

“I asked him, when all that went down, you know, are there people at your school that not showing up? And he said, yes. And he doesn’t understand and it’s upsetting. He wanted to know why,” Goddard said.

Things were a bit more rowdy in Florida as a 65-year-old Boca Raton man is facing two battery charges after an anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs protest became heated at an intersection west of Boca Raton on Saturday morning.

Video below: Protesters physically confronted in Florida

Thomas Landry was arrested Saturday morning, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

Louis Garcia, of Boynton Beach, who was wearing a “Firefighters for Biden/Harris” shirt, said there were about 200 protesters at the intersection, but he chose to go to another corner where there weren’t other people.

“I had my back turned facing the eastbound traffic,” said Garcia, noting he was with two female protesters. “I was holding a large American flag and an impeach Trump sign.

“All of a sudden, I heard a scream. He knocked the impeach Trump sign, knocked down a young woman.

“This guy was coming up behind me, very cowardly. Punched me in the chest with closed fist. I was startled and told to back up. He kept moving forward. Went to swing at head and knocked off my helmet,” Garcia said.

PBSO, which was nearby, was contacted and Landry was arrested on suspicion of battery of Garcia and a woman.

Garcia said he didn’t sustain any injuries.

Video below: Boston protesters rally for second day as new details surface in deadly Minnesota ICE shooting

Two rallies were held in Boston Saturday.

Demonstrators demanded that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and other lawmakers sever all ties between state and local law enforcement and ICE, end the alleged immigration-to-incarceration pipeline, and help families impacted by ICE detentions.

“An attack on a community member is an attack on all of us,” An Immigrant Justice Network statement read. “We keep each other safe — and we will continue to show up together until ICE is out of our communities.”

The group said they were there to mourn those killed by immigration enforcement and to demand an end to ICE operations and local collaboration across the state.

Boston police did not report any arrests at either protest.

Things turned violent in Minnesota Friday night.

A protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”

“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.

“Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”

[ad_2]

Source link

January 10, 2026
Police declare ‘unlawful assembly’ at downtown L.A. protest, use tear gas to disperse crowds

[ad_1]

Police on Saturday evening declared an unlawful assembly and issued a dispersal order for a small portion of downtown Los Angeles next to the Metropolitan Detention Center where demonstrators from “No Kings Day” protests had converged.

Tense standoffs took place between police and the crowd in the area of Alameda Street and Aliso Street, with demonstrators accusing law enforcement of escalating tensions amid the carryover from peaceful daytime rallies.

“A dispersal order for the area of Alameda between Aliso and Temple has been ordered … All persons in the area of Alameda and Aliso/Commercial must leave the area,” the LAPD posted on social media at 6:55 p.m. “All persons in the area have 15 minutes to comply. If you remain in the area you may be subject to arrest or other police action.”

The day’s protests, which drew throngs of crowds in Southern California and across the nation, made pointed critiques of President Trump’s actions on transgender rights, foreign policy, the federal government shutdown, university funding and other matters. Protesters also took on the the the White House’s push to deport immigrants without legal authorization to be in the U.S. by undertaking raids in U.S. cities including Los Angeles. The Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal facility, has become a focal point over anti-ICE sentiment.

On Saturday, tensions grew around 7 p.m., after LAPD declared the unlawful assembly and began to press a line of protesters outside the facility. Police shot multiple nonlethal rounds, used tear gas and brought in a fleet of horses in an attempt to push back crowds.

By 8:30 p.m., protesters had largely abandoned their stand near the detention center while police tried to reestablish a line on the street in front of federal building.

As of 9 p.m., LAPD had reported no arrests.

[ad_2]

Jaweed Kaleem, Christopher Buchanan

Source link

October 18, 2025
Police arrest protesters on UC Santa Cruz campus after ordering them to leave encampment

[ad_1]

Police in riot gear entered the UC Santa Cruz campus early Friday morning, arresting pro-Palestinian protesters who set up an encampment and blocked the main entrance to campus.

Video taken after midnight showed a line of police with raised batons standing at the UC Santa Cruz encampment just a few feet from protesters who linked arms. Many protesters wore helmets and goggles and covered their faces with keffiyehs and masks.

“Leave the area immediately,” a law enforcement officer instructed protesters. But his instructions were drowned out by the crowd.

“Cops off campus!” the demonstrators chanted. “Glory to the martyrs!”

A UC Santa Cruz official said in a Friday morning statement the university brought in law enforcement to disband the encampment after repeatedly instructing students — for weeks and Friday morning — to stop their “intentional and dangerous blockade of campus entrances.”

“It is imperative that we restore full access to our campus and end other unlawful, unsafe actions as demonstrators continued to disrupt campus operations and threatened safety, even delaying access of emergency vehicles,” said Scott Hernandez-Jason, the assistant vice chancellor for communications and marketing, said. “It was impossible to do so without law enforcement intervention.”

The standoff between protesters and law enforcement began around 1 a.m. as officers from the California Highway Patrol, Daly City, Foster City and Pacifica descended on the encampment.

A livestream feed from Estudiantes Oaxaqueños de Ahora at UCSC showed protesters setting up wooden pallets between themselves and the officers.

“You don’t scare us!” they chanted. “Shame!

Police tore away the barricade and then inched closer toward the protesters.

Livestreams from the UCSC Student Union Assembly showed law enforcement descending on the encampment in the dark, shining strobe lights on students, looking inside tents and dismantling the encampment.

“Free, free, free Palestine,” the protesters chanted, one waving a Palestinian flag as officers approached a line of protesters.

Police began to make arrests around 3 a.m. But two hours later, the protesters were still at the encampment, issuing calls for supporters to come to the campus and provide backup.

“SHOW UP NOW,” Students for Justice in Palestine UC Santa Cruz said on Instagram. “5AM AND WE ARE STILL HERE. WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER. GET HERE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.”

Videos from the scene showed protesters scream as police officers engaged in altercations with protesters who resisted arrest, in one case pulling a student from the crowd by the leg. Students tried to pull those being arrested back in to their circle.

“Don’t hurt students!” the protesters chanted. “Don’t hurt students!”

About 7:30 a.m., a white Santa Cruz sheriff’s department transportation bus carrying protesters left campus and the crowd jeered.

“Let them go!” they chanted.

It was not clear how manyprotesters have been arrested. Inquiries to local law enforcement agencies were not immediately returned.

The standoff took place after university leaders switched to remote learning this week after protesters blocked the main entrance to campus. Students have joined forces with hundreds of striking academic workers at UC Santa Cruz, who allege the University of California’s response to pro-Palestinian demonstrators has violated their free speech rights.

“We call on these protesters to immediately reopen full access to the campus and return to protesting in a manner consistent with both our community values and our student code of conduct,” university leaders wrote Thursday in a message to the campus community. “Denying instructional access is not free speech.”

[ad_2]

Jenny Jarvie, Angie Orellana Hernandez

Source link

May 31, 2024
1,000 Gaza protesters rally in Hollywood ahead of Oscars, block traffic

[ad_1]

About a thousand protesters converged on Hollywood on Sunday ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony to call for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Their presence frustrated Oscars organizers and traffic control when roughly 15 minutes before the ceremony was set to begin dozens of tinted black vans carrying ceremony attendees stood at a standstill on Highland Avenue .

“Go go go!” one organizer yelled at cars as he frantically waved at them to move through the intersection at Sunset Boulevard and Highland near the Dolby Theatre, where the ceremony was set to start at 4 p.m.

Three hours earlier, demonstrators had begun gathering by the hundreds at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Avenue, a few blocks east of the theater on Hollywood Boulevard. .

An Israel supporter stands on the sidewalk as a protester shares views Sunday in Hollywood.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Demonstrators spilled out onto Sunset Boulevard waving Palestinian flags, completely occupying the eastbound side of the street. Where traffic was blocked at Highland Avenue, some Oscar attendees in suit and tie ditched their cars and walked toward the ceremony. Police dispersed the protesters around 3:30 p.m.

About 40 police in riot gear stood vigilant at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Las Palmas Avenue, just one block west of the crowd, which was making slow progress toward officers.

“Free free Palestine!” the crowd chanted to a drumbeat as they waved dozens of posters showing a movie slate — painted in black, white, green and red, the colors of the Palestinian flag — with a message addressed to the Oscar audience: “While you’re watching, bombs are dropping.”

Demonstrators also gathered earlier around the Hollywood Boulevard exit off the nearby 101 Freeway and at the intersection of Sunset and Vine, while still others rallied on La Brea and Franklin avenues, near the Dolby Theatre, waving signs with the words “Cease-fire now.”

“Let’s shut it down!” protesters chanted as they swarmed Sunset Boulevard. The crowd began moving westward on the boulevard led by a white van with half a dozen people on top chanting into a microphone and megaphone.

Security is tight in and around the theater. Los Angeles police bolstered patrols in the area in anticipation of protests, and ticketholders for the ceremony and after-party events must pass through three checkpoints and a number of steel barriers before approaching the red carpet.

Miguel Camnitzer, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace of Los Angeles, said he only recently joined the pro-Palestinian cause. As the grandson of Jews who fled Germany during the Holocaust, the 44-year-old said he could not stand by while Palestinians were the targeted victims of another genocide.

“I just can’t sit home today watching an awards show when a genocide is going on in the name of my people and with a previous genocide having happened to my people,” he said. “I was raised believing it’s a collective responsibility from preventing that from anyone else.”

For Sarah Jacobus, a mentor for young writers, protesting the Israel-Hamas war is more about getting much-needed food, water, and other necessities to her mentees, some of whom are in Rafah, a Palestinian city in Southern Gaza.

“They’re hanging on for dear life,” Jacobus, 72, said. “Two are in Rafah, one in a tent with his family and another in a room with about 50 people. ”She said one of her mentees needs diapers for his two-month old baby, but “what they need more than anything is freedom.”

Joining the demonstration on Sunset, several members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television Radio Artists showed their support for Palestinians and a cease-fire, holding up a large SAG-AFTRA poster at the front of the crowd.

One of the protesters was a 35-year-old actress, whose aunt and uncle she said were sheltering in a church in Gaza as the war continued. She requested anonymity in fear of retaliation against her family in Gaza and herself in the entertainment industry.

“Hollywood is complicit,” she said, as she marched west toward the Dolby Theatre along with the rest of the crowd. “We have fellow SAG members who are Zionists … so there is this racist ideology running rampant inside the union and there is no punishment for it.”

She said Palestinian Americans who voiced support for Gaza had been unfairly retaliated against in the entertainment industry, including a fellow actor friend who was dropped by the individual’s manager after posting pro-Palestinian messages on social media.

“We are feeling the effects of speaking up against genocide and for humanity,” she said. She urged the union to make a statement in support of a cease-fire.

Demonstrators have held numerous rallies and marches around the world in recent months calling for an end to the war.

Israel launched its airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. The death toll in Gaza has since passed 30,000, with most of the casualties women and children, according to the World Health Organization.

International mediators had been working unsuccessfully for weeks to broker a pact to pause the fighting before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Sunday. Officials were hoping a deal would allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza who are under threat of famine.

Officials have been warning for months that Israel’s siege and military attacks were pushing the Palestinian territory into famine. At least 20 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration at the north’s Kamal Adwan and Shifa hospitals, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Recent airdrops of aid by the U.S. and other countries provide far fewer aid supplies than truck deliveries, which have become rare and sometimes dangerous. UNRWA, the largest U.N. agency in Gaza, says Israeli authorities haven’t allowed it to deliver supplies to the north since Jan. 23. The World Food Organization, which had paused deliveries because of safety concerns, said the military forced its first convoy to the north in two weeks to turn back last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Ashley Ahn

Source link

March 10, 2024
Biden arrives in Los Angeles today for fundraiser at Israel supporter’s home

[ad_1]

President Biden is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles today for a campaign fundraiser at the home of Israeli American media mogul Haim Saban, possibly setting off protests over the U.S. role in Israel’s war against Hamas.

Tension has been mounting within the Democratic Party over Biden’s support for Israel as it bombards the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The Biden administration has been a steadfast ally to Israel, preparing to send additional weapons to the nation even as the president has described the military campaign against Gaza as “over the top” and reportedly privately expressed frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The administration has called for a temporary cease-fire in a draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council, according to a CNN report Monday.

But the issue has divided California Democrats — in November, their convention was shut down early after about 1,000 protesters stormed into the Sacramento venue.

In December, the last time Biden visited Los Angeles to raise money, demonstrators staged major rallies in support of Palestinians, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. financial and military aid to Israel. Vandals spray-painted “Baby killers,” “LA says no to Genocide Joe” and “Ceasefire now!!! End the war crimes!” on buildings in the Westwood area.

Such protests could recur today. Saban is a major Israel supporter, and other hosts of the fundraiser have deep ties to the Jewish community. Co-host Leslie Gilbert-Lurie is a former television executive who has written a book about her experience as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and co-host Nicole Mutchnik is vice chair of the Anti-Defamation League, which fights antisemitism and other forms of bigotry. Other co-hosts include Casey Wasserman, chair of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee; StubHub co-founder Eric Baker; former Obama Ambassador to Germany John Emerson and former studio chief Bob Daly. Tickets for the event cost up to $250,000.

Biden has to thread a careful line, so as to not alienate core segments of the Democratic coalition — Jewish voters, young people and people of color who are key to his reelection effort. Biden administration officials met this month with Arab American and Muslim leaders in Michigan in an attempt to foster relationships with a community that could influence who wins the crucial swing state in this year’s election.

A super PAC supporting former President Trump, Biden’s likely opponent in the November general election, has seized on tension over the Israel-Hamas war as Biden arrives in California. It is running digital ads targeting social media users in Saban’s ZIP Code that focus on White House officials’ meeting with Osama Siblani, a Michigan newspaper publisher who has previously praised the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

“Joe Biden continues to embrace America’s enemies. The White House’s embrace of Osama Siblani is an affront to the dozens of Americans and hundreds of Israelis who lost their lives on Oct. 7, and the millions of Israelis who wake up every morning under siege by Islamic terrorism,” Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for the MAGA Inc. super PAC, said in a statement.

Biden’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the attack ad.

This is probably Biden’s last trip to California before Super Tuesday on March 5, when California and more than a dozen other states hold primary elections. In the 2020 presidential contest, his campaign raised $145.4 million from Californians, the most of any state in the nation, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. (And that doesn’t include donations to super PACs and other groups that supported his bid.)

His campaign’s fundraising efforts were stymied last year by the entertainment industry strikes.

On Tuesday, the campaign announced that the combined groups supporting Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign raised more than $42 million in January and had $130 million in the bank, the most any Democratic presidential candidate has had at this point in the electoral cycle.

“January’s fundraising haul — driven by a powerhouse grassroots fundraising program that continues to grow month by month — is an indisputable show of strength to start the election year,” campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

The president is expected to speak at an official event Wednesday before leaving the Southland and heading to the Bay Area, where he is scheduled to hold additional fundraisers before leaving the state on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Seema Mehta

Source link

February 20, 2024
California Democratic Party convention locked down amid anti-Israel protests

[ad_1]

SACRAMENTO —

A protest by about 1,000 people angry over U.S. support for Israel in its war with Hamas entered the convention center where the California Democratic Party was meeting Saturday evening, causing security guards to lock entrances to the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento and prompting an early end to the day’s official events.

Delegates and other participants were temporarily blocked from exiting and entering the building after demonstrators barged through security around 6 p.m. and opened several doors, allowing more people to stream into the building where California Democrats gathered for a weekend of events gearing up for the 2024 election.

“Cease-fire now. Cease-fire now,” they chanted as they marched through the convention hall waving Palestinian flags and carrying “Free Palestine” signs.

California Democratic Party officials canceled evening meetings and parties “for the safety and security of our delegates and convention participants,” spokesperson Shery Yang said in a statement.

The demonstration was not as dramatic as Wednesday’s protest at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, in which police clashed with demonstrators calling for a cease-fire as members of Congress gathered inside. Both instances highlight how the war between Israel and Hamas is dividing the left as the U.S. heads into an election year.

Protesters in Sacramento called President Biden “Genocide Joe,” and said, “bombing hospitals and children is a crime.”

Israel’s military has been searching the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital for a Hamas command center that it alleges is located under the building, a claim Hamas and the hospital staff deny.

The Sacramento protest began earlier in the afternoon in a park blocks away. The crowd heard from speakers decrying the Israeli bombardment of Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 incursion in which militants massacred about 1,200 people in Israel and abducted about 240. In response, the Israeli military has killed more 11,500 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health authorities, with an additional 2,700 missing, believed buried under rubble.

Several Jewish delegates to the convention expressed frustration that protesters who had not registered to attend the convention could so easily enter the facility.

Naomi Goldman, a Democrats for Israel California board member wearing a “Nice Jewish Girl” T-shirt, said it was painful to hear protesters chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” While many Palestinians consider the refrain a cry for liberation, many Jews hear it as a message that Israel should be obliterated.

“I am eagerly anticipating meaningful comment from my party on hate speech and violence targeting the Jewish community,” Goldman said, “as well as a total denunciation of what delegates did to disrupt our assembly, and how it will ensure safe inclusive spaces for everyone who hold a diversity of opinions.”

Ameera Abouromeleh, an 18-year-old Palestinian American who joined the protest with six members of her family — including her 74-year-old grandfather who she said was born in Jerusalem — said she looks forward to voting next year for the first time as a way to show solidarity with family who remain in the West Bank.

“I’m feeling really lucky to be 18 because this is when I can really make a change about what happens to my people and my land,” said the community college student from the East Bay Area. “Even though you squish someone under the rubble, our voices will be heard further.”

She said that in the presidential election she plans to vote for Cornel West, a progressive academic who is running as an independent. But she was unsure about whom she prefers in California’s race for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Democratic candidates in that race — including Reps. Katie Porter of Irvine, Adam B. Schiff of Burbank and Barbara Lee of Oakland — made the rounds at the convention Saturday seeking their party’s endorsement.

[ad_2]

Benjamin Oreskes

Source link

November 18, 2023
Thousands rally in downtown L.A. against Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza

[ad_1]

Thousands of people waving the black, green, red and white Palestinian flag and chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” gathered at Pershing Square on Saturday afternoon to protest Israel’s escalating air and ground war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The event began with a series of speakers who decried the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Israeli bombing attacks since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants launched their bloody incursion into Israel, and called for an end to what they termed an Israeli occupation of the densely populated enclave on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The crowd then began marching slowly down the middle of 6th Street, attracting hundreds more people who had arrived to show their support by joining the event led by groups that included the Palestinian Youth Movement, an independent, grassroots organization of Palestinian and Arab youths.

Demonstrators carry a gigantic black, green, red and white Palestinian flag in showing their support for Palestinians at Pershing Square in downtown L.A. on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Among them was Salah Odeh, of Pasadena, who said he was supposed to have joined his University of La Verne teammates in a game on Saturday but decided that the situation in his home country is “bigger than football.”

He said it’s imperative that the people of Gaza be given humanitarian aid and that Palestinian fighters receive military assistance in the face of Israel’s bombing campaign in recent weeks.

“People are offering their prayers, and that’s good — but we need physical help. We need military assistance,” said Odeh, who wore a black-and-white keffiyeh on his head, a Palestinian flag around his neck like a cape, and a pro-Palestine shirt and necklaces.

Gaza, he added, “is an open-air prison where everyone has been given the death penalty simply because they are Palestinian.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march down 6th Street in downtown L.A. on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Many of the demonstrators were heartened by the size of Saturday’s protest, which they view as an indication that younger generations are rejecting media narratives that they say unfairly seem to portray all Palestinian people as terrorists.

Negar Mizani, of Los Angeles, was accompanied by her husband and 3-year-old daughter in their third street demonstration since the war erupted on Oct. 7 with an attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

She shared an impassioned plea. “We would like for the Israeli apartheid to end — and a cease-fire,” she said. “It’s about recognition of the humanity of the people of Gaza.”

Nearby, Roy Nashef, of Los Angeles, held up a sign calling on the media to differentiate between Hamas and the residents of Gaza. “I’m just here to grieve with everyone else,” he said.

The war has led protesters on both sides to take to the streets across California and around the world.

A week ago, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, then began marching down Hill Street chanting and carrying signs denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “war criminal.”

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered two weeks earlier near the Israeli Consulate in West L.A. to condemn the bombardment of Gaza.

The next day, thousands marched to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in solidarity with Israel. Los Angeles is home to the second-largest Jewish community in America, with more than 500,000 members, and while views on the conflict run the gamut, many have found themselves reeling by the events that have unfolded in recent weeks.

The latest bloodshed began Oct. 7 when Hamas launched its incursion into Israel, killing more than 1,400 people — mostly civilians — and taking more than 200 hostages. Since then, Israel has launched a barrage of airstrikes across Gaza that have destroyed neighborhoods as Hamas militants fire rockets into Israel.

On Saturday, Palestinian officials published the names of 6,747 Palestinians killed and pleaded for help in a humanitarian crisis, with more than 1 million people displaced.

Israeli officials said 230 hostages are still being held in Gaza by Hamas. On Saturday night, Netanyahu said that the military had opened a “second stage” in the war by expanding the bombardment and sending ground troops into Gaza.

Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Connor Sheets

Source link

October 28, 2023