MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilians march in support of Palestinian victims

There were other marches in most of Brazil's big cities

Thousands of Brazilians marched Sunday through the streets of São Paulo in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, protesting against Israel's military actions, as part of the “Global March to Gaza,” supported by social movements, unions, and left-wing politicians. They called for a ceasefire and urged the Brazilian government to sever trade ties with Israel.

The event's organizers said it was part of the “Global March to Gaza,” where parliamentarians and activists called for a ceasefire in the region, an end to the conflict, and insisted the Brazilian government should break off trade relations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration.

Activist Soraya Misleh, of Palestinian origin, has taken part in the mobilizations against the conflict since the first acts. She described Sunday's demonstration to be historic, of broader construction and uniting the Palestinian Arab community in Brazil, parties, and movements.

“The Palestinian voices and the appeal of the Palestinian people are calling for international isolation along the lines of what was done about apartheid in South Africa in the 90s. Right now, we are living through a holocaust in Palestine, in Gaza, and a very criminal blockade in which Israel seeks the final solution in the ongoing Nakba, a catastrophe that has lasted more than 77 years,” said the activist.

“We've come here to demand that our government breaks off relations with Israel, as several other governments are already doing, like Colombia, because we can't continue to support the colonial state, which is committing genocide,” said creative researcher Cauê Teles, who brought his 8-year-old son Guido to the demonstration. “Little Guido thinks it's important to protest, because children have been the main victims of Israeli bombs.”

Raquel, a teacher who preferred not to give her surname so as not to be retaliated against, said that the act comes to support the Palestinian people, “while Israel extends the conflict and is now bombing Iran”. “We need to do something,” she said.

Meanwhile, administrator André Luiz claimed the time had come to join “the need for the Brazilian government to break diplomatic and commercial relations with the State of Israel, because it has really crossed the line.”

The group walked peacefully from Praça Roosevelt, in downtown São Paulo, towards Praça Cinquentenário de Israel, in Higienópolis. At the request of the police, the demonstration ended at Charles Miller Square. The reason for the request was not disclosed.

The demonstration is also in support of the caravan crossing Egypt to Rafah, a Palestinian city in the south of the Gaza Strip.

There were marches in support of the Palestinian people in other Brazilian cities, such as Belo Horizonte, Boa Vista, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Goiânia, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande (RS).

Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 45 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday (14), most of them near an aid distribution point, according to Reuters. (Source: Agencia Brasil)