On Tuesday, Nov. 14, a spirited crowd of more than 300 people gathered at 4 p.m. in downtown Los Angeles to protest
Israeli Prime Minister and war criminal Ehud Olmert. Olmert was in town at the Convention Center speaking to pro-occupation, rich Zionist groups, lauding the current Israeli repression and killings in Gaza and threatening Iran.
Protesters lined the entire sidewalk on Figueroa and 12th streets just across the street from the Convention Center. They came from Orange County, Long Beach, Ventura and all over Los Angeles to voice their opposition to Olmert.
The vast majority of protesters were community college and university students from UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal. State Long Beach, Santa Monica College, the Pomona Colleges and other nearby schools. It was a fantastic showing for a mid-afternoon rally in an area of town on lockdown because of the wildly unpopular Olmert’s visit to the city.
The crowd held Palestinian flags and signs and banners denouncing Israel’s colonial, apartheid policies and chanted
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When Zionists who had attended Olmert’s speech came out of the building and walked by, the protesters stayed strong and united, intensifying their chants of “Free, free Palestine! Long live Palestine!”
At the close of the protest, a short rally was held with speakers from the organizations present.
Various groups initiated the call for a protest and mobilized on one week’s notice, including the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and its member groups Free Palestine Alliance, Palestinian American Women’s Association, Party for Socialism and Libeartion, Latino Movement USA, National Lawyers Guild and Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; National Council of Arab Americans, Students for Justice in Palestine-UCLA, Muslim Student Association-UCLA, Al-Awda, MSA-West, Int’l Action Center-LA and Women in Black-LA.
All of the major network television stations—ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, KTLA and Spanish-language stations—along with the Los Angeles Times and assorted radio stations, covered the protest. Click here to read the LA Times’ article on Olmert’s visit to LA, which includes a quote from ANSWER organizer and Free Palestine Alliance member Muna Coobtee.
