Coimbra sends "An Embrace for Peace in Palestine"

The population of downtown Coimbra witnessed, and several media outlets recorded, how hundreds of people demonstrated in the evening of Tuesday 21 November in downtown Coimbra in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Due to the good turnout, this initiative, which was planned as a human cordon, was transformed into a parade/demonstration through downtown Coimbra, from Praça da Portagem, through Rua Ferreira Borges and Rua Visconde da Luz, to Praça 8 de Maio, in front of the Town Hall.

Among other demands, the demonstrators called for an immediate ceasefire.  They also emphasised the urgency of creating the state of Palestine in order to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East.  At the end, some artists (Rui Damasceno, Ana Biscaia, Eurídice Rocha) read poems referring to Palestinian authors or even beautiful poems composed in solidarity with Palestine by Portuguese author João Pedro Mésseder.

This action—organised by the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East (MPPM), the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), Projecto Ruído - Youth Association, and with the support of the Coimbra Confederation of Trade Unions (USC/CGTP-IN)—denounced the war crimes of the Zionist government of Israel and called on those present to continue organising necessary demonstrations of this kind in order to put pressure on the supporters of the Israeli government to bring about an immediate ceasefire, negotiations, the release of hostages and prisoners, and the creation of a free and independent Palestinian state, a key condition for lasting peace in this region.