Pro-Palestine demos in São Paulo, Brasília call for ceasefire in Gaza
The cities of São Paulo and Brasília this Sunday (Nov. 12) held pro-Palestinian protests and rallies calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The demonstration in São Paulo was organized by the Front in Defense of the Struggle of the Palestinian People and was joined by members of political parties and social movements. One of the mottoes chanted was, “State of Israel, murderous state! Long live the Palestinian people!”
One of the organizers, Mohamad El Kadri, was president of the Latin Palestinian Forum and said this is the fifth pro-Palestinian rally in São Paulo since October 7, when the most recent hostilities broke out. In his opinion, the events serve to educate society about the Palestinian people’s cause.
“The demonstrations make people aware of the Palestinian cause. Here in Brazil, people don’t really know what it’s about. Even the media is biased; they don’t interview representatives of the Palestinian community or Arab society. One lady at the demonstration said she had no idea Israel has occupied Palestine for 75 years,” he declared.
The gatherings, he went on to say, also serve as an encouragement to the Palestinians in Gaza: “We send everything we do in Brazil over to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is really important for them. They see they’re not alone.”
A performance by women simulating that they were carrying dead children in red-stained rags caught the public’s attention. The idea was to denounce the high number of children killed by Israel’s bombardments.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the number of children killed since October 7 reached 4,506 on Sunday. This means that a child dies every ten minutes in the Palestinian enclave.
Brasília
In Brasília, the march was organized by the Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which combines political parties and social movements. Ahmad Shehada, head of the Brazil–Palestine Institute, was among its organizers. The event was the sixth street demonstration in Brasília in support of the Palestinian cause.
Shehada was born in a refugee camp in Gaza, has relatives living in the war zone, and stressed that these protests are a response to Israel’s attacks.
“The Palestinian cause belongs to all of humanity. It’s a just cause. People are sensitized against these attacks on children, on hospitals.”
Teacher Eliene Bento Luiz, 58, went to the event in Brasília because she believes it is important to show the government that Brazilian society is aware of what is happening in Gaza.
“This doesn’t mean that we are anti-Semitic, because we know how much the Jewish people have suffered throughout history. We do want the Palestinian people to be respected. If the Hamas group is to be punished, it should not be with the death and blood of innocent people or children,” she argued.
Worldwide
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations also took place in several cities around the world this weekend. In London, UK, an event brought together more than 300 thousand people on Saturday (11).
There were also pro-Palestinian and ceasefire demonstrations in Brussels, Belgium; Berlin, Germany; Geneva, Switzerland; Barcelona, Spain; and Australia.
