Global Day of Action: ‘Hands Off Rafah!’
March 5—On Saturday, March 2, millions of demonstrators around the world took part in over 200 marches and demonstrations calling for the end to the genocide in Gaza and demanding an immediate ceasefire.
The list of locations where protests against the war party took place included London, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Havana, Tunis, Caracas, Tokyo, São Paulo, Kuala Lumpur, San Juan, Morocco, Guinea Bissau, and many more.
Canadians were also out in force—in Vancouver and Ottawa, hundreds marched, and another march is planned for Toronto on March 3 in front of the U.S. Consulate.
The largest march in the U.S. took place in Los Angeles, where organizers indicated that tens of thousands participated.
There were over a dozen marches just in the State of New York, including Syracuse, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. According to the New York Times, some 400 protesters first gathered in New York City’s Union Square on Thursday evening, Feb. 29, and condemned U.S. military aid to Israel, and then mobbed the subway to Wall Street, to bring the protest directly to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was addressing an event at a Wall Street restaurant. In New York City, thousands braved the pouring rain on March 2 to join the demonstrations.
Other protests occurred across the U.S. in at least a dozen major cities, as numerous medium and small cities also joined in.
One of those smaller cities was in Lawrence, Kansas, where the Lawrence Times quoted an unnamed protest organizer as saying, “The least you can do as a human being is stand against genocide…. If it was happening to the Jewish people, I’d be right here standing against the injustice.”
In Washington, D.C., thousands of protesters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy, with signs reading, “Free Palestine,” “Ceasefire Now!” and “Hands off Rafah!”
In many U.S. cities, the marches also included a respectful and sober acknowledgement, with candles and flowers, of the extreme sacrifice of U.S. Airman Aaron Bushnell by self-immolation on Feb. 25.
At the Syracuse, New York demonstration, Ron Vannorstrand from Veterans for Peace criticized the U.S. military’s involvement in the war. He also referred to Bushnell’s action as a sacrifice and an act of bravery, condemning mainstream media for making “no attempt” to contextualize his actions within the broader conflict. “We may have different interpretations … of Bushnell’s fatal act of courage and sacrifice,” Vannorstrand said. “However, I submit to you that he took his own life to call us to action.”
