A report from Palestine solidarity march / action

note from 2:50pm phone report
-police are beginning to tell demonstrators inside that they will be arrested if they don't leave
-reports of arrest
-people locking arms inside, getting arrested afterwards
-no cameras allowed inside for documentation, though some may already be inside
-200 or so people on steps, hundreds more moving past, stopping, congregating
-demonstration is still going strong...(((webcam)))

Around noon today, upwards of 500 people gathered in Sproul Plaza on UC Berkeley's in solidarity with the intifada in Palestine. The demonstration, spearheaded by Students for Justice in Palestine, is aimed at pressuring the UC Board of Regents to divest itself of Israel in the face of constant military aggression on the part of the IDF.

Speakers denounced the violence perpetrated by the IDF on an hourly basis, and called upon people to remember that it was Sharon's provocation with his visit to the Temple Mount in September of 2000. Pro-Israel demonstrators, perhaps 30-40 in a group, booed at the speakers at the start, but the cheers for the speakers' words drowned the Zionists out.

Students for Justice in Palestine is accustomed to being accused of support for terrorism, though none are grounded in reality. Reports in KRON and the Chronicle have said as much. For this reason, SJP made very clear that today's march and action were to be nonviolent. People got together in rows of 10 and marched through Sather Gate through the center of campus, ending up at Wheeler Hall. Once there, those that chose to march inside did so, while others stayed outside and listened to speakers, chanted and helped maintain the energy level at inspiring levels.

The Israeli Action Committee, a UCB student organization, stood outside as well, holding a large banner that said "Israel wants peace." When asked about SJP's tactics of nonviolent civil disobedience, one of the women carrying the banner, though not speaking as a representative of the IAC, said that SJP's "methods are idiotic." She also said that she "disgusted the the Palestinian support groups planned a demonstration on the anniversary of the Holocaust" and that they should be out there with IAC commemorating the loss of millions of lives during that horrible time. The day's significance was of course chosen very consciously by the organizers. The day was selected as a national day of action for divestment to coincide also swith the annual commemoration of the massacre of Deir Yassin.

:::more news as it arrives:::