The rally was attended by people from all walks of life; students, activists, lawyers and workers all marched together demanding an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine. Palestinian students studying in Lahore also joined the protest and addressed the crowd.
The organizers stated on social media a few days prior to the protest that in addition to demanding an immediate end to the recent wave of violence perpetrated by Israeli security forces, a ‘ceasefire does not cease the violence’ nor does it ensure accountability.
Ammar Ali Jan, an activist from the Haqooq e Khalq Movement, said that the ceasefire should not be taken seriously, referring to how the recent wave of violence was not an isolated event. “Israel has been illegally occupying Palestinian land and has been committing slow genocide for the last seven decades.” He further stated “The people of Pakistan stand with Palestine. We need to amplify the voices of Palestinians and it is also important to tell our own rulers that we will not accept any kind of trade or diplomatic relations with the state of Israel.”
The protest was largely led by students from the Progressive Students Collective (PSC); a left-wing students organization that is known to have played a leading role in the revival of student politics across Punjab in the past few years.
Yahya, who was one of the student organizers, gave a statement highlighting how this protest was different from others held recently in Lahore for a number of reasons, but especially since “Palestinian voices were centred” and that they were allowed to express themselves without any restrictions or dictation from the organizers.
Shafaq, another student activist who was present at the protest, said that although the intensity and scale of the violence are different, parallels can be drawn between the forced evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and forced evictions of working-class people in Pakistan.
The writer is a student from the Department of Liberal Arts at Beaconhouse National University.
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