Friday 16 November 2012

A Demonstration to Support Gaza



After Friday prayers there was a little demonstration in the main square in support of Gaza. It burst into the square from I think the nearby mosque, about 100+ people with half a dozen banners and a dozen palestinian flags. They were chanting slogans and carrying a small size coffin effigy. The overwhelming feature of the demonstration was, like the Mayday parade, how dignified it was. They sang a couple of good hearty presumably protest songs, in two parts, with chant and reply much like any cold war communist demo; shouted "God is Great" a couple of times; listened to an amplified speech of only about 5 minutes length (British union leaders could learn a lot); solemnly burnt something, I think it was the coffin but as Beloved said, at least it wasn't a Welsh flag; chanted a couple more slogans and dispersed. About 20 minutes from start to finish.
They were watched from a distance by rather more police than usual say a dozen in all and there were a few army types with them and two more serious observers in suits. We had noticed an army type lurking near the mosque on the Bab Taghout road going in, just as at the height of the Benghazi bombing, but the whole thing could not have been more dignified and to the point; Focussed would be a good description.

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