Close to 1,000 Arab-Americans and others marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, waving Palestinian flags and shouting slogans to protest Israeli military strikes against the Gaza Strip.
Protesters braving minus 1°C weather on Tuesday evening filled eight blocks of a major thoroughfare in Dearborn, widely seen as the heart of Arab America. Hundreds more gathered in New York City and Los Angeles outside the Israeli consulate, with rallies also reported in two cities in Florida.
Since Saturday, at least 374 Palestinians have died in the Israeli air onslaught against Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers. Most of the dead were members of Hamas security forces but the UN says at least 64 civilians have been killed.
The offensive came shortly after a rocky six-month truce expired.
Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets and mortars at Israel before and during the Israeli offensive.
Marchers in Dearborn waved flags and carried signs condemning Israel and showing pictures of casualties of the fighting. One group of protesters carried a mock coffin decorated with pictures of dead and injured children and labeled “US Tax Dollars at Work” and “Victims of Zionism.”
Some marchers chanted in English, “Gaza, Gaza do not cry, Palestine will never die” and “Israel is a terrorist state.” Others chanted in Arabic, “God is Great” and “a martyr is beloved of God.”
One protester carried a sign saying “Dearborn, take your shoes off!” a reference to the action of an Iraqi protester who threw shoes at US President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Iraq.
Southeastern Michigan is home to around 300,000 people with roots in the Arab world, the result of more than a century of immigration.
The Tampa Tribune reported that University of South Florida sophomore Jehad Saleh, 19, started a group on social networking site Facebook on Sunday, encouraging Palestinian supporters to gather for a protest.
Demonstrators lined a Tampa highway on Tuesday, waving Palestinian and American flags and yelling through megaphones.
“I’ve had cousins in the Gaza Strip who died,” Saleh told the newspaper. “If their voice can’t be heard, mine will.”
Further south in Fort Lauderdale, at least 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters lobbed charges at each other on Tuesday evening at an intersection, the Miami Herald reported.
Palestinian supporters yelled: “You kill our children!”
“No! You kill your own children!” Israel supporters responded.
Outside the Israeli consulates in Manhattan and Los Angeles, protesters on Tuesday waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Free Palestine.”
In New York, demonstrator Dalia Mahmoud said she was “shocked” at Israel’s actions and that it was “punishing an entire population for the actions of a few.”
A few miles south at City Hall, Israeli Consul General Asaf Shariv met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, displaying for reporters an exploded rocket that killed an Israeli woman out for a walk.
“We are obligated to defend our people, and that is what we are doing,” Shariv said.
Bloomberg voiced his support.
“I can only think what would happen in this country if somebody was lobbing missiles onto our shores or across the border,” he said.
Meanwhile, the organizers of demonstrations in Britain against Israel’s air strikes on the Gaza Strip urged British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday to end his “deafening silence” on the bloodshed.
In an open letter published on the back page of the Guardian newspaper, the 21 groups told Brown: “this is your hour with history and we urge you to take the first step.”
Protests have been held outside the Israeli embassy in London since Sunday and a national demonstration is planned for Saturday in the city center.
The groups said Brown had “rightly” rushed to New Delhi and Islamabad in the wake of the Mumbai attacks “in order to calm all parties, avert escalation and further bloodshed.”
They asked if he intended to visit Tel Aviv to spell out opposition to Israel “causing maximum casualties,” and then Gaza to “console the orphans and widows.”
“We expect nothing less of our government than an unequivocal condemnation of Israel’s actions, as it has condemned similar brutalities committed by various states around the world. We urge you to ensure: an immediate end to Israel’s military assault on Gaza; an immediate end to the blockade and siege on Gaza; an end to Israel’s violation of international law; an end to Israeli occupation.”
Those behind the letter included the Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Council of Britain, the Islamic Human Rights Commission, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and the left-wing political party Respect.
The British government has said it is “appalled” by the violence in Gaza and has called for an immediate ceasefire from both Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas that it is targeting.
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