Hundreds of people protested, rallied and marched on Thursday, Nov. 9, in Long Beach on the south end of Bixby Park (Annex) in solidarity with Palestinians and called for a a cease-fire in Gaza.
Tanya, 30, a student at Long Beach City College Long Beach and Tanya’s friend Farah called and organized the protest.
Farah said the demonstration was organized in five days with help from Orange County, Voices for Palestine and the CORE (Communities Organized for Revolutionary Equality) movement.
Tanya thanked the protesters for showing up, “showing community and for showing solidarity” and said,”Safety is our number one priority here. Like I already said, we are not interacting with counter protesters. We are not giving our attention to counter protesters. We are here for peace. We are here for the people of Palestine. We are here for solidarity and that is it.”
Tanya introduced Josh and characterized him, as a “strong Filipino voice of solidarity.” Two other speakers were Ted, who said he was from the Long Beach Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and Jewish Voice for Peace, and Anthony, who said he was from “the CORE movement and in coalition with SoCal Uprising..”
In the park, the protesters carried signs and chanted. Some of the call-and-response chants were: Palestine will be free; Long live Palestine; Biden Biden you can’t hide we charge you with genocide; Ha ha, ho ho the occupation has got to go; What do we want? Ceasefires! When do we want it? hn Now; Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry Palestine will never die; Intifada, intifada (from Arabic, meaning shivering or shaking off, refers to 1987-93 uprising against the Israeli occupation).
Barry Saks 