Hundreds of people took to the streets in downtown San Diego Saturday afternoon in a show of support for Palestinians amid the growing violence in Israel and Gaza where casualties continue to mount.
Chanting “Long live Palestine” as they marched up Broadway, signs held aloft while waving the tri-color flag of Palestine, the marchers were part of a protest aimed at persuading elected leaders to press for a ceasefire and an end to what they called the Israeli occupation, said Sarah Farouq, community organizer with the San Diego for Palestine Coalition.
“We want our federal officials to act now make sure they hear our demand for a ceasefire,” she said, as protesters walked past her. “We also want our local electeds, the City Council, the mayor to be more responsive. We’ve heard a lot from them around Israel but we have not seen any support for the Palestinian and Muslim community in San Diego.”
Besides San Diego for Palestine Coalition, other organizations involved in Saturday’s protest were the Palestinian Youth Movement and American Muslims for Palestine, Farouq said.
The peaceful protest, which San Diego police said drew about 1,200 people, is not the first one in San Diego that the local Palestinian groups have organized. Two others have been held in the last 10 days, Farouq said, in addition to a vigil held Wednesday at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park to mourn the hundreds killed in the blast earlier this week at a Gaza hospital.
Since the surprise Oct. 7 attack of Israel by Hamas, which left more than 1,400 dead, the country’s military has been launching waves of airstrikes in Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians live. Palestinian militants, in turn have retaliated with fire rockets into Israel. The fallout from the Hamas attack continues to grow, with the death toll of those in Gaza estimated to be more than 4,300.
Signs and chants of the demonstrators Saturday attested to their fears and frustrations over the daily battles in Gaza — “Free Palestine,” “Your tax dollars kill children,” “Stop funding genocide.”
Farouq emphasized that the downtown march was not meant to be anti-Israeli.
“Our focus is on our Palestinian communities here and in Palestine,” she said. “We’re not anti-community, we just want people to understand there is an active, illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, so want a stop to all the funding they’re sending to Israel. These are our own tax dollars that are funding this occupation.”
Among Saturday’s marchers was Tayseer Odeh, of La Jolla, who was with his four-year-old grandson. A Palestinian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1974, he said he was there to support a peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict that is affecting many friends, family members and acquaintances.
“Some of them feel trapped right now because they are afraid to go in an area where are a lot of Jews,” Odeh, former president of the House of Palestine in Balboa Park. “We also know people who were hiding in the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza (that was hit by an Israeli airstrike). Some were able to run away but we are still trying to find out if they are OK. I’m hoping our foreign policy will change and become more even-handed.”
