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A
crowd of 2000 demonstrators confronted a heavy police presence in
downtown Orlando on January 10, 2009 for the "Let Gaza Live: Florida
Statewide March for Palestine".
The demonstration is believed to be the largest anti-war event in
Florida in more than a decade and almost certainly the largest ever
protest in Florida calling for a free Palestine. Police tried to
intimidate marchers by initially searching bags, women's purses and
baby strollers, by forcing protesters to remove sticks from signs
(although counter demonstrators were allowed to have sticks), and by
denying the use of amplified sound. Organizers and protesters
challenged and pushed back their unwarranted scare tactics, and the
protest turned out to be a powerful success without incident.
The march and rally were organized by: Arab American Community Center
of Orlando; Act Now to Stop War and End Racism/Florida; Muslim Student
Association Florida Council; South Florida Palestine Solidarity; St.
Pete for Peace; Rise Up Tampa Bay; Florida Peace Action Network; Iraq
Veterans Against the War; St. George Church; Council on American
Islamic Relations; Project Downtown Orlando; Orlando Dawa'ah Project;
Muslim Youth Community Center of Orlando; Society for a Just Peace in
Palestine (SJP) at Rollins College.
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Photos 1, 2
YouTube 1, 2
There were protests all over the world on the same weekend denouncing U.S.-supported Israeli actions in Gaza:
- More than 100,000 in pro-Gaza march in Spain (read);
- From DC to San Francisco and Los Angeles (read);
- Gaza anger boils over at London demo (read);
- Crowd tries to attack U.S. consulate in Pakistan (read);
- Malaysian boycott of U.S. & Israeli goods (read);
- Israel has arrested 700 protesters so far (read);
- Thousands in Europe, Lebanon protest (read).
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