2023-10-15 08:54:05
“We are not standing here today to rejoice, but to mourn,” emphasized Sami Ayad from the Palestinian Community of Austria. Around 300 people chanted slogans such as “Let Gaza live, let Gaza free” and “Israel terrorist”. 30 people gathered in Graz despite the ban. A young man was arrested following an attack on a police officer.
In Vienna, the police were deployed with a large number of uniformed and civilian forces, the Vienna State Police Directorate said at the request of the APA. There were currently no reports of charges or arrests. In complete contrast to the controversial rally at Stephansplatz last Wednesday, which was banned at short notice by the Vienna State Police Directorate and in which there were over 300 reports. The mood there was emotional but peaceful. “Boycott Israel” and “child murderer Israel” were also repeatedly shouted.
“What is happening in Gaza is massive oppression, actually genocide,” Ayad told APA. “We call on the world to step in. Israel is not above the law.” The Palestinian community in Austria does not want any calls for violence. During the rally, Ayad paid very close attention to what the speakers were saying on the rally stage. When a youth shouted “Allahu Akbar,” a steward immediately intervened and warned him not to do so. In general, Arabic slogans were undesirable, Ayad warned the rally participants. “This is a solidarity rally for the civilian population in Gaza (…) We are here to show that we are thinking regarding them,” he emphasized.
“Prison with two million inmates”
Anyone looking for a solution to the conflict must first talk regarding its causes, explained Mary Pompalk from the peace initiative “Women in Black”. “Israeli apartheid, occupation and the complicity of the United States and Europe in this oppression are the source of all this violence.” When talking regarding Palestinian terror, one must also consider the “state terror” that the Israeli government, military and settlers have perpetrated on the Palestinians every day for decades,” said Pompalk. A lasting peace can only be achieved if both human rights and that International law would be respected.
Photo: EVA MANHART (APA)
“Gaza is a prison with two million inmates,” said Willi Langthaler from Palestine Solidarity Austria at the rally. It was also his organization that called for the rally on Stephansplatz last Wednesday. When asked regarding allegations that it was a demonstration to celebrate Hamas’s atrocities once morest Israeli civilians, he firmly rejected them. “This is a classic slander. We as organizers have given slogans that all stand for a just peace, for self-determination for the Palestinians, for an end to colonialism.” The massacres of civilians in Israel are regrettable, but a reaction to Israel’s “massive form of structural violence” once morest the Palestinians. This produces “counter-violence that is not always moral,” said Langthaler. In his eyes, only “a common democratic state for all the people living there” might lead to lasting peace.
- Video: Pro-Palestinian demonstrations worldwide
Ayad also condemned the massacres of the Israeli population, but tried to explain: “It’s like an escape through a pressure valve in a boiler.” This interpretation by Ayad is of course contradictory to findings that the Hamas terrorists had been preparing their murder campaign for months, with 1,200 deaths, including infants. “In any case, I condemn the murder of civilians. But what Israel is doing is exactly the same. Israel is doing collective punishment. Not everyone in Gaza is with Hamas,” he emphasized. When asked whether the freedom demanded in Palestine was possible with the radical Islamic movement, he replied: “If you get the chance to live in freedom, everyone will accept it.”
Incidents following demo in Graz
In Graz, a pro-Palestinian meeting took place at Südtirolerplatz despite a ban. As the Styria State Police Department announced in the evening, around 30 men and women came. After the police intervened, the group broke up once more, but an incident subsequently occurred. The meeting participants left Südtirolerplatz in small groups towards Herrengasse, where they met around 30 other people who expressed their solidarity with them. A young Palestinian verbally insulted a police officer there, came back following being turned away and slightly injured the officer in the face. “He was then arrested on suspicion of attempting to resist state authority. Investigations into the matter are ongoing,” said the police.
Image: ERWIN SCHERIAU (APA)
At around 4 p.m., the number of police, media people and passers-by on Südtirolerplatz in front of the Grazer Kunsthaus was significantly larger than the number of participants in the meeting. They shouted “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free” several times and waved flags. Some of the gathering participants wore Palestinian scarves or T-shirts with Palestine prints. An older woman told journalists that she had been to Palestine three times for three months and knew what oppression was. She therefore wants to show solidarity.
- Image gallery: Banned Palestine demonstration on Wednesday in Vienna
Picture gallery: Banned Palestine demo in Vienna – 300 ads
RALLY BOYCOTT.DIVESTMENT.SANCTIONS AUSTRIA (BDS AUSTRIA) “VISON FOR PALESTINA” (Photo: TOBIAS STEINMAURER (APA)) Bild 1/16
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