Following the escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflicts, protests have happened all around the UK to show support to Palestinians, including in Cardiff.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Cardiff City Centre on Saturday morning in support of Palestine.
People from the Welsh capital organised a march in response to the Israeli airstrike that struck in Gaza over the past week. Protesters were holding banners and flags, chanting “free, free Palestine” and “Gaza, Gaza don’t you cry” as people filled out the streets of the welsh capital.
“We are here to protest the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people at the moment,” one of the protesters said.
“Israel is occupying Palestinian lands and committing an international crime. No one is standing up for them. The UK government should stop funding Israel’s military and stand with Palestinians.”
The crowd started gathering at the Nye Bevan statue, Queen St, at midday and hearing speeches and chants, the prostester began to march, blocking traffic as they went.
The protest was organised by the Cardiff Palestine Solidarity Campaign which was the biggest group for Palestine in Cardiff since 2014. The next protest expected to be happened at BBC Wales Building at Saturday.
The conflict, which begun decades ago, started escalating at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in mid-April, with nightly clashes between police and Palestinians. The threatened eviction of some Palestinian families in East Jerusalem has only caused more rising anger.
But over the past week, the conflict has only worsened. According to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry, 192 people, including 58 children, have been killed in Gaza since last Monday in intense Israeli air and artillery attacks.
At least 42 people, including 10 children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Thursday. It destroyed three buildings in a new wave of attacks in the Gaza Strip, causing heavy casualties.
In a statement released earlier this week, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that the military’s operation against Palestinian militants would keep going for “as long as necessary”. He said that Hamas would pay a heavy price, like any other “terrorist groups”.
This past week has seen the most rounds of fire in Gaza history since 2014, during the Gaza war.
“Just two days ago they wiped a whole village in Gaza,” said Jiham Rezeqawlah, a Palestinian woman who has been forced to exile outside of her homeland for years.
“The UK needs to shut all the factories that are arming Israel. They are supplying arms to Israel. I want to everyone knows Palestinians are peaceful people, we are not terrorist. Stop putting Hamas as the face of Palestinians.”
Hamas is a Palestinian group that rules Gaza and has continuously fought Israel since the early 2000’s. Israel and Egypt tightly control Gaza’s borders to not let weapons getting to Hamas.
