Saturday, 9 July
12:00 pm
Piccadilly Gardens
Manchester
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/201027720296827/
PROTEST TO MARK THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE GAZA INVASION
BOYCOTT ISRAEL – VICTORY TO THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE!
FREE BILAL KAYED AND ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!
In July 2014 Israel launched its murderous operation “Protective Edge” in a bloody attempt to crush the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. In the course of six weeks the Zionist regime bombed hospitals, disabled civilians, schools and religious buildings, killing over 2,200 and forcing over half a million people from their homes.
The mission failed – the steadfast Palestinian movement refused to give in and millions around the world supported their cause. In Manchester hundreds of people spontaneously occupied Barclays and M&S to protest at British corporate support for the Israeli occupation.
In weeks of protest, the rolling pickets came up against the organised forces of the British state – 14 people were arrested, some violently, but 13 of these cases were thrown out or found innocent. The local politicians called us ‘revolutionaries and extremists’. While the bombardment of Palestine was in the news, these were the seeds of a new movement in solidarity with Palestine.
The occupation, the settlement building, the racist apartheid law and the siege of Gaza have not gone away. Manchester Boycott Israel Group – Victory to Palestine! is calling on people to take to the streets to build the BDS movement. Like the Palestinian people we must declare to the world: We will not be silenced!
Palestinian prisoner Bilal Kayed has now been on hunger strike since the morning of 15 June, demanding his freedom. On 13 June, he was slated for release after 14 and one-half years in Israeli prison. Instead of being released, however, he was ordered by the Israeli occupation military to six months in indefinitely-renewable administrative detention without charge or trial.
We join the international action demanding the freedom of Bilal Kayed and his fellow prisoners – and the freedom of Palestine and its people.
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) Manchester
RCG – Revolutionary Communist Group
