WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Hundreds of Pro-Palestine demonstrators marched through downtown Walnut Creek over the weekend to urge the public to join the call for a lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a press release.
On Saturday, Dec. 23, a reported 500 people rallied in Civic Park before marching to the Broadway Plaza shopping center, where they handed out leaflets and engaged members of the community on how to support a ceasefire in Gaza. The march and rally were organized by the Middle Eastern and North African Club from Las Lomas High School and Diablo Valley Solidarity Unite.
The rally came as the official death toll in Gaza since Oct. 7 climbed past 20,000, with Israel showing no sign of slowing down the pace of its indiscriminate aerial assault and ground invasion. The ongoing carnage prompted the cancelation of the usual Christmas festivities in Bethlehem this year.
The rally in Walnut Creek was just one of many around the country and the world during the Christmas weekend and on Christmas Day, with demonstrators on Saturday chanting “While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping,” in addition to “Ceasefire now,” according to the release.
Demonstrators said it was important to hold these kinds of rallies in cities like Walnut Creek as much as in larger cities like San Francisco to raise awareness about how their tax dollars are going toward funding the occupation of Palestine. They urged the community to contact their elected officials and tell them to call for a lasting ceasefire.
