News / protest
Hundreds march through Bristol to remember Nakba
Several hundred protesters marched through Bristol to mark the anniversary of the Nakba.
According to the United Nations, the Nakba, which means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, “refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Before the Nakba, Palestine was a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society.”
One man was arrested during the protest for supporting Palestine Action.
Among the protesters who first gathered at the bandstand in Castle Park on Saturday afternoon was Ben Trowell, who was among those kidnapped by Israeli forces from a flotilla of boats delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Trowell also stood at the front of the march behind a banner reading ‘Bristol ❤︎ peace’
Another banner carried during the march read: ‘Down with the racists and the warmongers. Wipe out the Epstein class’
The Nakba anniversary event was organised by Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Bristol Stop the War Coalition, Bristol Apartheid-Free Zone and Bristol Trades Union Council.
One of the speakers at the bandstand before the march was Stop the War Coalition vice-chair, Chris Nineham.
“The Israeli army has tried to bury the Palestinians in one of the most intense bombing campaigns in world history,” Nineham said.
“No one knows how many have died.
“It has been a campaign more intense than Dresden, more intense than Hiroshima.
“And anyone who questions whether this is a genocide should consider that 95 per cent of the buildings on the Gaza Strip have either been destroyed or damaged.
“Now since what is laughingly called a ceasefire, the media, the politicians, the commentators are trying once again to bury the Palestinians, this time with silence.
“We are here to say to Keir Starmer, to say to David Lammy, to say to Kemi Badenoch, to say to Nigel Farage, to say to the BBC, we will not forget and we will not forgive.”
Around 300 people took part in the march – photo: Rob Browne
About a dozen police kept a watchful eye on the protesters with one man arrested on suspicion of expressing support for Palestine Action which remains a proscribed terrorist organisation.
The man in his 30s was later released on bail.
Avon & Somerset Police superintendent Vicks Hayward-Melen said: “While it is always our aim to enable peaceful and lawful protest, we have always made it clear that we will intervene where criminal offences are suspected to have been committed.”
Protesters first gathered next to the bandstand in Castle Park – photo: Rob Browne
Main photo: Rob Browne; video: Martin Booth
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