With the war in Gaza raging on and more casualties being recorded by both sides, hundreds of Durbanites took to the streets on Wednesday afternoon to show support for Palestine and plead for the international community to condemn Israel.
The roadside protest started during the peak hour of 4pm and ran until 7pm
Among the freeways that were targeted by the protesters is the N3, which connects Durban to Gauteng.
The protesters gathered under the banner of the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment, and Sanctions), which has been calling for the isolation of the Jewish state of Israel, accusing it of occupying Palestinian land and allegedly committing war crimes.
The protesters included South Africans of all races and ages, and similar solidarity pickets took place in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Some of them waved the Palestinian flag while donning the Palestinian scarf, which is now associated with resistance worldwide.
Several motorists waved and raised their fists as they passed by, showing support for the protest action.
Some motorists slowed down near the Tollgate area, popped out of the windows and sunroofs of their cars, and waved the Palestinian flag and scarves.
The most prominent banner carried by protesters was had “Israel is an apartheid state,” and “Hands off Jerusalem” on it.
The city of Jerusalem is being disputed by both Palestinians and Israelis. They both claim it as their “eternal capital.”
The city is also home to the al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the source of conflict between Hamas and Israel, which started on Saturday morning.
The Hamas operation was code-named ‘Al-Aqsa Flood.
By Wednesday, around 8pm Doha (Qatar)-based international news channel Al Jazeera reported that so far, 1,200 Israelis have been killed while over 5,000 Palestinians have perished as the war rages on.
PICS: Hundreds of people lined up on major roads of Durban from 4pm, waving Palestinian flags in support of the Middle East country that is currently being pounded by Israel war planes. The war in Gaza started on Saturday morning between Hamas and the Israel Defence Force. pic.twitter.com/fhiY1kuptQ
Israel has also completely blockaded the Gaza Strip, the epicentre of the war.
“People in South Africa are out in their numbers today in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and many other towns and cities in the following weeks to show our solidarity for the Palestinian people in their struggle for justice, equality, the right to resist and achieve liberation from Israeli settler colonialism and apartheid, and the right of all Palestinians to return to their land.
“We will not be silent as we watch the devastating scenes of death and destruction reigning down on the open-air prison of Gaza by the Zionist, apartheid, settler-colonial state of Israel,” BDS said about the solidarity pickets in the three cities.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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