Demonstration for Peace and Palestine brings together hundreds in Porto

With around three hundred people taking part, a new public event "For Peace in the Middle East and for the rights of the Palestinian people" took place at 6pm on 26 October in Palestine Square, Porto.  The event was organised by the Porto Confederation of Trade Unions (USP-CGTP), the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), and the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East (MPPM).

The speakers were Tiago Oliveira, coordinator of the USP and member of the National Council of CGTP/IN, José António Gomes, member of the National Board of the MPPM, Palestinian student Nur Latif, and Ilda Figueiredo, President of the National Board of the CPPC.  Joana Machado was responsible for the introduction and conclusion of the event, as well as for the presentation of the speakers.

It was a well-attended initiative that vividly expressed the participants' concern about the current escalation of the war situation and the danger of its spreading to the Middle East, the invasion and siege of Gaza by the Israeli army, the war crimes that are being perpetrated, and the total violation both of UN resolutions regarding Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and the most basic rights of the Palestinian people.

They denounced the widespread disregard for human rights in both Gaza and the West Bank, and the systematic destruction of residential buildings, churches, schools and hospitals in Gaza by the Israeli army's bombardments.

Nur Latif provided an update on the impressive figures regarding the destruction of human lives. The hypocrisy of the governments that back or even actively support Israel—those that call themselves the "Western world" and mouth so-called "Western values," especially the United States and the European Union—was condemned in the face of this whole situation, as well as the failure to create, through pressure on the Israeli government, the political conditions necessary for the rapid activation of humanitarian aid to the massacred people of Gaza, starting with demanding a ceasefire in the territory.
This urgent ceasefire was demanded by those present.  Calls for peace were heard, as well as such watchwords as: "GAZA IS NOT A PRISON! MASSACRE AND SIEGE NO!", "AN END TO VIOLENCE, AN END TO OCCUPATION!", "PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, INDEPENDENT PALESTINE .", "SOLIDARITY, JUSTICE AND PEACE" and "PALESTINE WILL WIN!"

Once again, the Portuguese government was called upon to "act in a manner consistent with the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, both of which advocate the abolition of colonialism and all other forms of aggression, domination and exploitation of peoples; and to advocate, in the name of peace, for a ceasefire and the opening of negotiations based on compliance with international law and the UN resolutions, which are clear on the need for an end to Israel's policy of occupation and oppression and the fulfilment of the Palestinian people's right to build their state according to the pre-1967 borders and with its capital in East Jerusalem."

Photos: Henrique Borges