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National Gaza demo in pictures.

Guido | 06.01.2009 18:17 | Palestine | Repression

Today those peace loving Israelis announced that they were still doing everything possible to minimise civilian casualties. They also manages to shell a school built by the UN and kill three of there own troops in a friendly fire incident. Clearly taking great care to hit the right targets?

Saturdays demo was very loud and angry. The Police, following their usual government agenda, said that a mere 10,000 were in attendance. Meanwhile the Stop the War Coalition doubled the figures to 50,000. Both faction should be congratulated for their consistency if nothing else.

After the demo a march heading for the embassy was stopped by Police in an underpass while several thousand others made their way there by tube.

Big march leaves embankment.
Big march leaves embankment.

"Oi Brown, Nooooooo!"
"Oi Brown, Nooooooo!"

Shoe bombing downing street.
Shoe bombing downing street.

Cop searches for free loafers size 9.
Cop searches for free loafers size 9.

Was ever any justice to begin with?
Was ever any justice to begin with?

Passing the temple of doom.
Passing the temple of doom.

Galloway addresses his constituents.
Galloway addresses his constituents.

V for vendetta.
V for vendetta.

Not an unreasonable request.
Not an unreasonable request.

Applause for the speakers.
Applause for the speakers.

Back at the embassy...
Back at the embassy...

...another lampost is occupied...
...another lampost is occupied...

...as thousands gather to make their point.
...as thousands gather to make their point.

Another Israeli flag spontaniously combusts.
Another Israeli flag spontaniously combusts.

The Police come dressed for the occasion.
The Police come dressed for the occasion.

The inevitable confrontation...
The inevitable confrontation...

...with the usual measure response.
...with the usual measure response.


The embassy was several thousand strong and very angry. Mostly Muslim youths, both the Police and the press were targeted. None of this is very surprising. These kids are sick of being stopped and searched by the cops every five minutes under the terrorism act. So with the playing field leveled there was always going to be some payback. They are also pretty tired of seeing their religion being insulted and misrepresented by the tabloid press on a daily basis. So photographers and cameramen got slapped too.

Not all media is evil. Some recent words of wisdom by Robert Fisk:

"How easy it is to snap off the history of the Palestinians, to delete
the narrative of their tragedy, to avoid a grotesque irony about Gaza
which – in any other conflict – journalists would be writing about in
their first reports: that the original, legal owners of the Israeli
land on which Hamas rockets are detonating live in Gaza.

That is why Gaza exists: because the Palestinians who lived in Ashkelon
and the fields around it – Askalaan in Arabic – were dispossessed from
their lands in 1948 when Israel was created and ended up on the beaches
of Gaza. They – or their children and grandchildren and
great-grandchildren – are among the one and a half million Palestinian
refugees crammed into the cesspool of Gaza, 80 per cent of whose
families once lived in what is now Israel. This, historically, is the
real story: most of the people of Gaza don't come from Gaza.

But watching the news shows, you'd think that history began yesterday,
that a bunch of bearded anti-Semitic Islamist lunatics suddenly popped
up in the slums of Gaza – a rubbish dump of destitute people of no
origin – and began firing missiles into peace-loving, democratic
Israel, only to meet with the righteous vengeance of the Israeli air
force. The fact that the five sisters killed in Jabalya camp had
grandparents who came from the very land whose more recent owners have
now bombed them to death simply does not appear in the story ... "


Finally in the interests of media balance and impartiality I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni. In the past few days she has achieved two seemingly impossible objectives. She has not only made Tony Blair look honest but also Condaleeza Rice look human. Quite incredible...

Guido
- e-mail: guidoreports@riseup.net

Comments

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How to calculate numbers at demonstrations

06.01.2009 20:27

Police figure = A
SWP figure = B
Real figure = R

R = ((A x 2) + (B / 2)) / 2

e.g.

(10,000 x 2) = 20,000 --- (A x 2)
(50,000 / 2) = 25,000 --- (B / 2)

(20,000) +( 25,000) = 45,000 -- (A x 2) + (B / 2)

45,000/2 = 22,500 (Total) -- ((A x 2) + (B / 2)) / 2

maths


Leaving from the station

07.01.2009 20:10

Towards the end of the demo there were a lot of riot police in Kensington High St station, refusing to let people go through the ticket barriers with their faces covered- either you removed your scarf or you left the station. I think a lot of people were desperate to get home and ended up removing their masks. Just wondering if anyone knows the legality or otherwise of this.

a.n. activist