Palestine Protests Temporarily Shut Down San Francisco Federal Building

As people got off work on Thursday evening, October 19, the street in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco swelled with a spirited crowd chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” An ocean of demonstrators stopped traffic as Homeland Security police looked on and a helicopter hovered overhead.

With less than 24 hours’ notice, the “All Out for Gaza” emergency protest amassed two to three thousand demanding an end to the siege on Gaza and an immediate cessation of US aid to Israel. Organizers included Al-Awada, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Jewish Voice for Peace, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Workers World Party.

Two Palestinian students from San Francisco’s Lowell High School spoke eloquently and movingly to the enthusiastic crowd. Earlier they led a Bay Area wide student strike.

Activists chained themselves to the entrances to the Federal Building. From the podium, to the cheers of the growing crowd, it was announced that the building had been shut down.

Flags and handmade signs proliferated, some proclaiming “You Can’t Hide Genocide.” The main hospital in Gaza, Al-Ahli, had just been bombed by the occupation forces.

More flags and protesters arrived as the rally in solidarity with Palestine grew. A young man wearing a kippah (yarmulke) freely mingled in the diverse throng. Far from being anti-Semitic, a clear distinction was drawn between cultural and religious Judaism and the apartheid political ideology of Zionism.

A speaker, who was introduced as a Jew who opposes Zionism and was born before the State of Israel was established, was especially warmly received by the overwhelmingly youthful protesters.

Several speakers from Palestine told how they have had family members killed in Gaza since October 7. The spoke of how their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles were subject to collective punishment, trapped in the open air prison that is Gaza with no escape.

Egyptian, African American, Filipina, South African, and Native American speakers all affirmed their common humanity. “We are all Palestinians,” they proclaimed. And to a person, they identified the common menace to humanity as US imperialism, joined at the hip with its junior partner Zionism.

Joe Biden has given unconditional approval to the genocide that is unfolding in real time. California Senator Nancy Pelosi and Governor Gavin Newsom have also given their endorsement to the massacres  in Gaza.  Mention of their names evoked  chants of “shame, shame, shame” from the young crowd.

Article and photos by Roger D. Harris, who is with the human rights organization Task Force on the Americas, founded in 1985.