Activists commemorated the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Saturday, at times disrupting a busy holiday weekend in the US due to Black Friday, with rallies and marches demanding an arms embargo on Israel and rejecting the US-led phased peace plan.
Over 85 protests were held across Europe, according to the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP), and another 13 were organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) across North America.
Protesters rallied at Colombus Circle, with NYC PYM calling US President Donald Trump’s “board of peace” plan an attempt to colonize Gaza and strengthen US-Israeli imperialism. People’s Forum co-director Manolo De Los Santos decried rising tensions between the US and Venezuela, charging that Trump was backed by an “army of criminals” in Washington.
“If you stand with Gaza, you have to stand with Venezuela,” Los Santos said, according to a video published by his organization.
In Dallas, activists disrupted Black Friday shopping at the North Park Mall, accusing the brand stores housed there of being complicit in “the genocide and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan and Gaza.”
“Hands off Gaza! No to US occupation,” read signs supplied by the Party for Socialism and Liberation at a protest in Los Angeles.
Over 40 organizations rallied at the Los Angeles city hall, according to PYM LAOCIE (Los Angeles, Orange County, and Inland Empire). At the Harry Bridges Plaza in San Francisco, activists criticized the November 18 United Nations Security Council vote in support of the Trump plan and a mandate to establish the International Stabilization Force (ISF).
Over 20 organizations rallied in Washington at a Lockheed Martin facility, demanding that the Virginian Retirement System divest from the company due to the jet fighters used during the Israel-Hamas War.
Calls for embargoes were also heard at protests in Toronto, where PYM Toronto cast Canada as complicit by “performatively” recognizing a Palestinian state but not enacting a two-way arms embargo on Israel. The Canada Palestine Association organized a weekend protest against Scotiabank, alleging that it continued to invest in Elbit Systems.
In Mexico City, activists marched to the US Embassy, with trade-union associated groups calling for an end to relations between Mexico and Israel.
The London Metropolitan Police established conditions over a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march on Saturday due to the busy weekend for shoppers.
“We expect this weekend to be very busy with people shopping during the Black Friday sales and visiting the capital, including Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dr. Alison Heydari said in a Friday statement. “ We have worked with organizers to seek to minimize disruption and balance the right to protest.”
UN had given governance of Gaza to the US: Ben Jamal
PSC said that over 100,000 people gathered for the London protest, which group director Ben Jamal said was in honor of a day established to recognize the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. He said in a video that Israel had been granted impunity for the “crimes of occupation and genocide” and that the UN had given governance of Gaza to the US.
“We are here calling for the end to the complicity, including the complicity of our government that is giving lapdog support to that resolution, continues to arm Israel, and continues to give it diplomatic and political support,” said Jamal.
Several dozen protests were held throughout Spain, with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Madrid thanking those who spoke up against “impunity, genocide, apartheid, and colonialism.”
Masar Badil called on the Spanish government to enact an arms embargo, break all ties with Israel, and close all Israeli defense companies in Spain.
Activists with Palestinian flags marched through Berlin, according to Global Movement to Gaza Germany, with one banner declaring that “one genocide does not justify another.”
Twelve protests took place in Brazilian cities, according to the Sao Paulo Palestinian Front.
In Cape Town, activists carried signs emblazoned with the face of convicted arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, with the Global Movement to Gaza comparing him to Nelson Mandela.
“The struggle to free Marwan is inseparable from the struggle to free all Palestinian political prisoners. We will not rest until all are freed,” the group wrote on Instagram. At least one participant carried a Hezbollah flag.
The UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People commemorated the International Day of Solidarity on Tuesday with a special meeting. Similar events were held at UN offices around the world. The day of solidarity commemorates the 1947 UNGA resolution to partition the British Mandate.
“This year’s commemoration will take place amid a fragile ceasefire in Gaza following unimaginable violence and a humanitarian catastrophe that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands and forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands more,” the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine wrote.