Protesters marched down Market to the Mission on day 21 since Hamas assault, Israeli bombing
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Thousands of protesters took over the Central Freeway in San Francisco today in a march calling for an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza that began three weeks ago after a surprise attack by Hamas.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that killed 1,400 Israelis, Israel has started a bombing campaign that has thus far killed over 7,700 Palestinians.
Organizers of today’s march said more than 15,000 people took to the streets, moving from a 1 p.m. rally at the Ferry Building and marching two-and-a-half miles to the freeway on-ramp at Octavia and Market streets.
There, a line of San Francisco police officers initially blocked the entrance but were quickly overtaken by the crowd. Marchers streamed onto the freeway, cleared of vehicles, and chanted “Ceasefire now!” and “Stop the siege of Gaza now!”
They held signs reading “Palestine will be free” and “Stop the genocide.” Some carried a makeshift gurney of white-blanketed bodies, like those in Gaza, with red paint to symbolize blood.
https://videopress.com/embed/I2Rpala6?cover=1&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=1&hd=1Protesters moving down Market Street in a protest calling for an end to bombardment in Gaza on Saturday, Oct. 28. Video by Joe Rivano Barros.
Israel’s aerial blitz is increasingly drawing international scorn. The United Nations General Assembly on Friday voted 121-14 for an end to hostilities in the conflict; the United States, Israel, and a dozen other countries voted against the resolution. Most Western countries voted to abstain.
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Protesters on Saturday pointed to what they called a decades-long occupation of Palestine and blamed the recent bout of violence on that occupation.
“For 75 years, our people have resisted. For 75 years, our people have refused defeat,” said Violette Mansour, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement. She stood on the back of a pick-up truck outfitted with speakers and a sign reading “Generation after generation until total liberation.”
The 75 years refers to the time since Israel’s founding in 1948. As many as 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes when the state was founded, in what became known as the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” to Palestinians.
After occupying the Central Freeway for half an hour at 4:15 p.m., protesters moved down the 101-South on-ramp onto South Van Ness Avenue and marched towards 16th and Mission streets.
There, they promised to continue protesting until a ceasefire is declared, and called on attendees to “tell your friends, tell your family” to continue marching. By 5:45 p.m., the crowd had dispersed.
The Palestinian Youth Movement, an international group of young Palestinians, was one of the chief organizers of the rally, alongside the Arab Resource Organizing Center, Jewish Voice for Peace, and a coalition of other groups.
The march, called days ago, took on a sense of urgency following the apparent commencement of a ground invasion by Israel. Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza on Friday for the third time, coming after a night of intense bombing and a telecommunications blackout that left residents without working phone or internet connections, according to news reports.
The protest was the largest of several in San Francisco calling for an end to the bombing since the siege began. On Oct. 9, hundreds rallied outside the Israeli embassy. Days later, on Oct. 13, anti-Zionist Jews chained themselves to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office at the Federal Building and repeated that action a week later.
Two weeks ago, some 10,000 people marched from the Ferry Building down Market Street, in a protest similar to Saturday’s. And, on Oct. 18, hundreds of students walked out of schools across the city.
Organizers today said they would return to the streets until President Joe Biden and Pelosi called for a ceasefire, a policy that is broadly popular among Americans but that has seen little mainstream political support.
Rep. Cori Bush on Oct. 16 introduced a resolution calling for “an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.” It has just 18 cosponsors, with little support among Democrats or other representatives.
JOE RIVANO BARROS SENIOR EDITOR
joe.rivanobarros@missionlocal.com
Joe was born in Sweden, where the Chilean half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time in advocacy as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023.
