Philadelphia
Some 1,000 pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside Philadelphia City Hall on Dec. 16 for a “Flood Philly for Palestine” march. They demanded that President “Genocide-Joe Biden” stop his support for Israel’s 71-day murderous assault on the people of Gaza that has killed over 20,000 Palestinians. A popular chant was “Biden, Biden, pick a side, cease-fire or genocide.”
Demonstrators surround City Hall, Philadelphia, Dec. 16, 2023. WW Photo: Joe Piette
The marchers were accompanied by a truck towing an electronic billboard flashing statistics from the horrific Israeli carpet bombing that began Oct. 8. From two sound trucks speakers kept the chants going nonstop for over two hours.
Protesters circled around City Hall Plaza, greeting holiday shoppers with chants like, “While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping,” then marched on Walnut Street, stopping along the way outside a Starbucks store to call out the chain’s owners for their support of Israel. The protest stopped between 18th and 19th streets alongside the park in Rittenhouse Square, filling the entire block for the final rally.
March fills Walnut Street outside Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, Dec. 16, 2023. WW Photo: Joe Piette
Participants were urged to participate in the second “Day in Solidarity with Gaza” on Monday, Dec. 18, and neither shop, nor go to work or school, nor participate in any activities that would benefit the corporate state.