Hundreds of demonstrators in Los Angeles shut down a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon in a protest demanding Joe Biden and US lawmakers call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In the heart of Hollywood, along the palm tree-lined streets near Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and the Walk of Fame, protesters waved Palestinian flags and held signs – “not in our name” and “let Gaza live”. More than 1,000 people gathered in the rain, including a group that staged a sit-in at the intersection with flowers in hand and shirts reading “Jews say ceasefire now” as tourists watched.
“We demand an end to the killing and the return of the hostages,” one speaker said. “Ceasefire now.”
The demonstration, organized by the groups Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles and IfNotNow LA, followed large gatherings around the US in Washington DC, New York and Seattle earlier in the month. Protesters have advocated for a ceasefire in the conflict as well as an end to US military aid to Israel amid the growing death toll in the war.
The bombardment in Gaza began in October following the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, according to an Israel foreign ministry spokesperson. In the weeks since, Israel’s military has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, including 4,500 children, Gaza’s health ministry has reported. Among the dead are 42 journalists and media workers, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The level of civilian casualties is unacceptable and amounts to genocide, said Karen Pomer, a protester and longtime LA activist. Scholars and historians have described the events unfolding in Gaza as a “textbook case of genocide” while others have disagreed with that assessment but alleged that war crimes are taking place.
“I am disgusted and horrified,” said Pomer, whose grandfather survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. “It’s the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep.”
The protest began in De Longpre Park with speeches from Jewish organizers and a representative from the Islamic Center of Southern California as well as Patrisse Cullors, a longtime organizer and a Black Lives Matter co-founder.
“We are not free until everyone of us is free,” she said.
Under steady rain and a thick shroud of smoke from burning sage, demonstrators filled the park – the playground draped with Palestinian flags as a handful of children played under the eye of their parents who had come to join the protest. Rain or shine, free Palestine, they chanted. Never again for anyone.
“I grieve the loss of more than 1,200 Israeli lives and I grieve the loss of Palestinian lives,” said Michael Wolfe, a JVP organizer. “I will continue to grieve and I will not allow my grief to be used as a weapon of war to fuel genocide.”
They began their march toward Hollywood Boulevard. They moved through several blocks mostly unimpeded, aside from a tense confrontation with a driver and a car that sped through a parking lot directly toward organizers, forcing them to quickly move out of the way. Police closed off several blocks.
As the crowd moved forward, Jocelyn Gallegos, who carried a sign reading “Viva Viva Palestina”, said she hoped the US would call for a ceasefire and that people would not avert their eyes from the conflict.
“This is happening in the heart of Hollywood,” she said of the protest. “I want this to no longer be ignored.”
