MEDIA INVITE: Major Palestine protest march against Israeli attacks on Gaza

6 August 2014

BDS South Africa will be one of the many civil society organisations, political groups, trade unions and other organisations participating in this Saturday's National Palestine protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza. The protest will be calling on the South African government to take decisive diplomatic action against the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza and hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. Amongst other things, our government must: withdraw our South African Ambassador from Tel Aviv as a form of diplomatic protest; expel the Israeli Ambassador from South Africa as a form of diplomatic protest; prosecute those South Africans serving in the Israeli Defence Force; follow the example of the more than 17 European Union countries that have issued warnings against doing business with Israeli settlements or companies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

 

This historic protest, which is expected to be one of the largest in South African history since democracy, will start at 11h00 from Keizersgracht and is being organised under the banner of the National Coalition 4 Palestine which includes BDS South Africa, MJC, Jamiat Ulama, ANC Youth League, COSATU, PSC and various others. Some of the people attending will include Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu; South African struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada; Deputy Minister in the Presidency and National Secretary of YCL, Buti Manamela; Shaka Sisulu, the grandson of one of the leaders of the 1956 Women's March - Albertina Sisulu.

Date: Saturday, 9 August
Time: Starting at 11AM

Venue: Keizersgracht to SA Parliament, Cape Town
Organizers: National Coalition 4 Palestine which includes BDS South Africa, MJC, ANC Youth League, COSATU, PSC and various others.

To date over 1800 Palestinians have been killed, including 350 children with hundreds of thousands left homeless due to Israeli attacks on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The national protest march will take place on Women's Day to also celebrate the mothers and sisters of Palestine who stand steadfast, every single day, against Israeli oppression.

The national protest march comes on the back of over 40 protest actions across South Africa and is organized by a wide-range of South African civil society organizations, trade unions and political parties under the banner of the National Coalition 4 Palestine which includes BDS South Africa, the MJC, ANC Youth League and others

ISSUED BY MUHAMMED DESAI ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA

 

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