Last Wednesday, human rights activists who attend the weekly Lovinksy vigil choose instead to join the nightly protests out side the Israeli Embassy. The vigilers wanted to make visible their opposition to the slaughter in Gaza, and its similarities with the occupation in Haiti. Since their successful revolution in 1804, the Haitian people have been invaded, occupied, have had dictators imposed them, and been denied the government of their choice: their first democratically elected and hugely loved President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile by a US coup. Thousands of his supporters have been murdered. Haitians are also being starved in an island with no way out, and denied international aid. But despite this onslaught they have continued to resist, and our beloved brother Lovinsky is a prime example of that resistance.
Some of the placards carried by Lovinsky vigilers read:
Occupation is the crime.
Mothers say
Stop murdering our children
Invest in Caring not Killing
Gaza Haiti Iraq
A report in UK Indymedia described Wednesday's protest as follows
Among the many Palestinians and others showing their solidarity with the Palestinian people were several ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta as well as other Jewish groups including the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. There were several people holding posters "ASHAMED TO BE AN ISRAELI !!!" and a group of supporters of Haitian human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine (kidnapped in Haiti in 2007) who had come to the Gaza demonstration rather than their normal weekly vigil at the Brazilian Embassy.
While I was there, police were keeping the demonstrators behind a double row of barriers and keeping a single lane of traffic moving on the road in front in both directions. For a very short time I was able to photograph from the area in the front of the demonstration, but one familiar police officer told me that I was getting in his way and I was forced to leave.
The demonstration was due to end at 7pm and a pro-Israel demonstration was scheduled to start at 7.45pm in the same place. According to news reports, around 500 pro-Israel demonstrators turned up and some of the pro-Palestine demonstrators had stayed to oppose them. There were a number of struggles with police and 5 pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested as police attempted to drive them further west away from the Embassy and the other demonstrators. Another arrest was also reported earlier when police stopped a group of almost a hundred cars with Palestinian flags coming to join the demonstration from East London.
The march was also attended by a number of Jewish anti-Zionist groups such as IJAN and the Neturei Karta .
Comments