News. Cover image: Protesters march in Cardiff calling for a ceasefire, by Ka Long Tung
This Saturday, Cardiff will host a national march for Palestine in what organisers hope will be the biggest of its kind ever held in Wales.
The rally and march will kick off this Saturday, 25th November, in Cardiff’s Central Square at 1pm, adjacent to the central railway station.
Several Palestinian speakers – including Sumayya Ahmed from the Palestine Social Club and Lujane Conibear will lead the call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. The renowned singer Charlotte Church will also perform at the rally.
Kwabena from Black Lives Matter Cardiff, Neezo from Stand up for Palestine Swansea, and Dr Ahmed Sabra, a Swansea cardiologist who has just returned from Gaza, will address the protest.
Despite news this week of a potential four day pause in the bombing, there has in reality been no let up in Israel’s assault on the civilian population of Gaza.
As of Monday, 13,000 Palestinians had been killed since October 7th, including over 5,500 children. More bombing and atrocities were reported on Wednesday night.
Over the weekend, Israel bombed two schools in Northern Gaza, one in the early hours of Saturday morning. As Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from the scene: “Almost 200 people have been killed in these attacks and the number is expected to increase as there are many under the rubble. People are using shovels and their bare hands to dig people out.”
Only this week, video emerged showing a surgeon in Gaza breaking down in grief outside a hospital. He had had to perform an amputation on his own child without anaesthetic, due to Israel’s blockade which is preventing vital medicines into Gaza. After performing the operation, the surgeon had to watch his own child die of pain.
UNICEF has called for an immediate ceasefire and said that child casualties in Gaza are “a growing stain on our collective conscience.” The United Nations has described Gaza as a “graveyard for children”.
The UK human rights charity Amnesty International has also asked the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes by Israel, saying it has determined that two Israeli strikes last month that killed 46 people in Gaza “were indiscriminate attacks or direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects, which must be investigated as war crimes”.
There have been weekly protests in Cardiff for the past five weeks, some well into the thousands. Anger has focussed on the BBC, who have been accused of ignoring the large body of opinion that believes Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
There has also been a sit in at Cardiff Central Station and the National Museum of Wales.
Other speakers at the rally this Saturday include Senedd members Peredur Owen Griffiths (Plaid Cymru) and Jenny Rathbone (Welsh Labour), PSC honorary president Betty Hunter, Mairéad Canavan (NEU Wales Executive member), Natasha Hirst (NUJ President), Marianne Owens (PCS Chair).
A coalition – Wales for a Free Palestine – has been formed of groups including PSC, Black Lives Matter, Stand up for Palestine, Cardiff Stop the War coalition and the Muslim Council of Wales, has organised the protest.
The all-Wales Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign will be launched at the rally.
Maggie Morgan, Chair of Cardiff Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the organisers, said:
“The aim of the rally is to build on the Senedd vote and general public outcry at the current Israeli massacre of innocent civilians, including children, in Gaza. We want to establish Cymru as a nation that stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and acknowledges Israel’s apartheid.”
There have also been numerous protests and vigils throughout Wales, including in Swansea Wrexham, Aberystwyth, Mountain Ash, Haverfordwest and elsewhere.
For information on transport to the National March for Palestine in Cardiff on Saturday, organisers are directing people to the Facebook page: Palestine Events In Wales
