On the 24th of November, the coast to coast wave of Black Friday Gaza solidarity protests continued at Tampa, FL. The chosen target was the massive Tampa Premium Outlets shopping Mall. Traffic backed up all the way to the I-75 feeder lanes even though protesters were NOT blocking traffic.
Author’s note: this wave of Black Friday protests was something I just HAD to see with my own hands!
On November 24, Protesters blocked the entrance to Towson Mall. The cops were called Zionists in chants after pushing them to the sidewalk for the benefit Black Friday shoppers.
This was part of a wave of Black Friday protests for Gaza from coast to coast across Turtle Island. Photo below is of a disruption at the Mall of the Americas, photo by Unicorn Riot:
This as a short cease-fire and prisoner exchange is allowing some hostages held both in Israel’s jails and those held by Hamas to return home, three held by Israel (holding 1,500) for every hostage held by Hamas (holding 240 initially). First exchange was 24 Israelis freed and 39 Palestinians freed, hopefully more to come.Still, Israel says they plan two more months of war after this pause is over. Protesters are demanding a permanent cease-fire.
This is a little late getting out (The Macy’s blockade was AFTER this, on ThingsTaking itself) but was still a solid action.
On the day before “ThingsTaking,” the busiest travel day of the year, pro-Palestine protesters returned to DC’s Union Station for a die-in. This protest dramatized the mass murder of children and civilians under the storm of rockets and bombs Israel has devastated Gaza with.
On the 23ed of November, activists blockaded the Macy’s “ThingsTaking” parade in NYC. On a day the US celebrates colonialism and settlement, these warriors disrupted the parade in solidarity with Palestine and with all resisting colonialism and the destruction of Earth.
This is video of cops running and attacking not only protesters but media at the Nov 15 protest at the Democratic National Committee in DC.
Let’s be clear: ALL the violence was started by the cops, who inflicted somewhere around 100 injuries and reported only six in return. The protest itself was a vigil reinforced by a nonviolent, arm-locked blockade of the DNC’s doors. Cops met this with a level of raw force and brutality rarely seen at protests in DC.
Some suggested the more macho elements in the Capitol Police were trying to make up for the clobbering they got at the hands of violent far-right extremists on Jan 6, 2021.
This remains relevent in the face of rising police brutality and official harassment and outright oppression of pro-Palestine protesters not only on Turtle Island but globally.
On the 22nd of November six people in so-called Canada were arrested in a series of police raids on homes of pro-Palestine activists. Florida legislators are proposing to report pro-Palestine students to the Dept of Homeland Security, ban pro-Palestine student organizations from using university funds or buildings, and revoke in-state tuition, grant, and loan access to pro-Palestine students.
In the face of this nastiness, pro-Palestine activists are being advised by some to conceal their identities at all times when in action, and generally ramp up security precautions. It is clear that the humiliation of the Democrats and GOP alike at being called on the carpet for supporting genocide is more than they can bear, so from the DNC to DeSantis they are lashing out
When a sitting member of any state legislature calls out the hate and bigotry flowing in the State House as Fascism, that says a lot.This year, suicides were counted along with all the murdered trans people, because the violent hate legislation coming from sewers like the FL State House in Tallahasse has driven many to suicide. Sixty two people were remembered tonight, sixty-two too many to have to remember.
Anna is probably the leftmost member of the entire Florida State House-and one of only TWO to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
On the 17th of November, pro-Palestine protesters in Tampa, FL rolled up on the iconic Bank of America building, which contains offices of weapons maker Lockheed Martin somewhere around the 22nd floor.
Protesters denounced Lockheed-Martin for selling weapons such as fighter jets and hellfire missiles to murderers. They read out some of the names of those killed in Gaza while taping posters with quotes and statements about the war on one of the building’s pillers.
Video by Chuck Modi: protesters chant “MPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!”
New Video: Extended footage of the peaceful protest that induced Union Station to shut themselves down
On the 17th of November, protesters descended on DC’s Union Station intent on shutting it down over the gaza genocide. When they got there, Union Station had shut themselves down, closing their doors to all but Amtrak ticket holders who could not be excluded.
Protesters rallied outside in victory, their mission for the day accomplished. It is likely that security at Union Station believed police and Dem/GOP lies about how the brutal police attack on Wednesday’s protest at the DNC started. Not wanting a repeat the closed the station’s doors to the public exclusing AMTRAK ticket holders.
Looks like Palestine protests and DC in particular are seriously heating up! Official over-reactions to peaceful protests have sparked a major confrontation, evacuated the DNC, and shut down a major transportation hub in the space of just two days. Things are heating up elsewhere too. In Florida, rabidly pro-Israel Gov and Presidential candidate DeSantis is proposing to criminalize ALL pro-Palestine protest if a way around the 1st Amendment can be found. Already he has ordered universities to “deactivate” Students for Justice in Palestine chapters, though the universities and their cops have no legal power to prevent them from continuing to operate without university support and funds.
On the 16th of November, protesters in Tampa, FL marched on City Hall. This protest organized by Tampa Community Action Committee demanded that Mayor Jane Castor CUT ties with Israel, and meet these demands:
1: Ban cross-training between the Tampa police and IDF/IOF troops.
2: End the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator Program within Tampa.
3: Refrain from using the Tampa police to restrict or silence pro-Palestine protests.
4: Issue public, on the record statements condemning Israel’s carpet bombing of Gaza, recognize the current genocide as such, and condemn Zionism.
5: Issue a public call to protect Students for Justice and Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. These groups have faced extreme harasment from university administrations etc in recent weeks.
6: Issue a public apology for ignoring Tampa’s Palestinian community, one of the largest in Florida. Also Jane Castor must apologize for silence in the ongoing genocide inGaza and for her public posts supporting Israel.
More in-depth video with incredible footage from the blockade at the DNC
Original shorter video w just the key clips
On the 15th of November, an IfNotNow/JVP blockade of the DNC’s doors was met with overwhelming police violence and pepper spray. At least one person was thrown down the stairs. Online trolls and pro-Israel members of Congress claimed that protesters were storming not blockading the building, video evidence says otherwise. Some even claimed this was an “insurrection,” as MTG did a month ago, With Dems believeing their own hype, the DNC was evacuated.
The IfNotNow Movement and Jewish Voice for Peace vigil outside and door blockade of the Democratic National Committee was to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
The response was an astounding display of official and unofficial fury and venom. Someone reportedly overheard one of the Dems telling the police to “use full force.” They did” cops muscled in on the sit-in, and at least one person was physically thrown down the stairs. There was a report of “bear mace” most likely the big fire extinguisher-based mace soakers used by riot cops in DC.
Report is that the DNC was at least partially evacuated as cops and CongressCritters believed their own hype.
After this scrum was over, matters got even nastier! First came a “false kettle” where cops surround protesters but do not follow through with a mass arrest. After that, the trolls on social media started up, no doubt with planted stories ready to roll. Congressman Brad Sherman(D-CA maybe D-Tel Aviv?) went so far as to claim on Birdchan(AKA Twitter/X) to claim that activists pepper sprayed the cops, instead of police mace blowing back on them with the wind as so often happens.
It seems Brad Sherman would be more at home on the MAGA side of the house. He is attempting to gaslight the whole country, being one of the sources of the claim that those clearly seen on video blocking the doors with locked arms were instead trying to storm the building. It’s hard to pepper spray a cop with both hands busy locking arms!
Claims by Rep Sherman and others that protesters tried to storm the building are contradicted by what is clearly shown on video to be a blockade. The author of this report was in plenty of building stormings with Occupy DC about a decade ago and in later pipeline protests. I’ve also seen hundreds of blockades, and this was a blockade. An attempt to storm the building would have run straight into the blockaders and ended in complete failure. Clearly Congressman Brad Sherman is nothing but a gaslighting liar.
Riffing on the spurious “storming” charge, we even have trolls calling this an insurrection, though no weapons are present other than those of the cops! There are no shields, no gas masks, none of the protective gear our fighters wore during the Uprising (our 2020 Intifada) or in later battles with the Proud Boys. This was clearly a protest and judging by the equipment and markings used was intended to be peaceful.
Well, I guess the though of standing up for Gaza is more than Genocide Joe’s Democrats (should we call them autocrats?) can stand. Already they are screaming about the sheer volume of calls they are getting demanding a ceasefire, while clearly they support a total wipeout of Gaza.
