Anti-Israeli "demonstration" in Europe

Shinji

Just vaguely wondering if news of this made it to Ireland/UK in any form... I was in Amsterdam over the weekend, and on Saturday an Anti-Israeli demonstration in the central plaza of the city turned really quite nasty - fair bit of damage done, riot police called in etc.

I was interested to note that the demonstrators (who were almost entirely young and of middle eastern descent, with a surprisingly large number of females) carried downright anti-Israeli banners and large photographs of suicide bombers alongside "Stop Israeli Terrorism" banners. And this was no small group - it started off small but by mid-afternoon there were thousands of them in the square.

I'm sure the trouble was caused by a small minority within the group nonetheless (some enterprising folk had clearly brought along crowbars to lever up cobblestones out of the ground) but the nature of the banners etc. at the demonstration surprised me a lot - this was no peace rally.

Gargoyle

Originally posted by Shinji


I was interested to note that the demonstrators (who were almost entirely young and of middle eastern descent, with a surprisingly large number of females) carried downright anti-Israeli banners and large photographs of suicide bombers alongside "Stop Israeli Terrorism" banners.

Did they dress their chlidren up like suicide bombers, like this protester in Berlin?





source

ReefBreak

Well, at least they called a spade a spade, i.e. Anti-Israeli or Pro-Palestinian. I saw a report on Sky News over the weekend about the rally in London. It was billed as a peace rally and the reporter on Sky News referred to it as such. But when he was talking there were various marches passing by - almost all holding pro-palestinian banners - "Victory to the Intifada", etc, etc. So not really a "Peace Rally" then...

shotamoose

I was at an anti-war-on-Iraq demo in London recently, and there was about 30,000 people there, a very diverse bunch. At the end there were a few speeches in Trafalgar Square and George Galloway MP (I think it was him, anyway) finished off a rather rabble-rousing speech by shouting "Victory to the Intifada!". Lotsa people clapped, some didn't, I certainly didn't. Surely the whole point about peace is that nobody one side should try to win, i.e. beat the other guy.

Greenbean

Alot of "Peaceful Demonstrations" are not as such, even in the planning - it just gives a better chance for more people to show up. Most go there saying "this is peaceful, but if anyone lay's a goddamn hand on me I'm gonna punch their faces in" etc. The peaceful banner helps people get themselves into nice awkward positions - like sitting peacefully on roads, or peacefully shouting abuse at the "enemy" and then when all hell breaks loose everything can be decried as a "shameful assault on peacefull protesters". Generally it takes two to tango, but these aren't gandi style protests, these are shows of power and intended as a threat. "Stop the war? Yeah for sure, but I also wanna kill a few of those bastards and take out my anger on somone!". Its northern ireland on a scary scale.

swiss

Agreed. Rallys, such as those organised against Israel/Palestine/Iraq/America etc. usually seem to be marred by violence. There is always a minority element that will use the blanket of a peaceful protest to carry out anti-social acts of destruction with impunity.

The protestors themselves do have a right to assemble and practice free speech. They themselves have organised the rally, so I do think that to a large degree they should be self - regulating i.e. they should take measures to try to spot the real troublemakers and the anti-social element in thier ranks and take steps to remedy the problems they may cause.

Granted this is not always a feasible step. It is however, oftentimes better than a heavy police presence which can only incite a crowd to commit even more wanton destruction, which can set the precedent for subsequent protests.

Bateman

I think by their nature demonstrations are evry difficult to control, and the people who organise them have more important things t do than to try to keep tabs on everyone and make sure the demonstration isnt hijacked by an unruly element. The pro-Palestinian one in Dublin last week passed off without incident. But when its 30,000 people we are talking about its a bit more difficult.

Meh

Originally posted by Bateman
the people who organise them have more important things t do than to try to keep tabs on everyone and make sure the demonstration isnt hijacked by an unruly element.

Surely when you're organizing a demonstration, this is the most important consideration of all? It's the organizers job to make sure everything stays organized.