Around 100 demonstrators gathered on Thursday morning (13) in front of the US Consulate in São Paulo to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and protest against President Donald Trump. The state military police maintained a significant presence, creating an atmosphere of intimidation.
The Republican recently stated that "the Gaza Strip will be handed over to the United States by Israel at the end of the fighting" and that the Palestinians will be "resettled in much safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern houses, in the region."
The proposal that Washington could take control of Palestinian territory, of which there are no details or deadlines, provoked immediate outrage around the world and warnings of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.
At the demonstration, posters addressed to Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, said that "Palestine is not for sale." Besides São Paulo, the demonstration occurred in seven other Brazilian capitals, including Brasília. Soraya Misleh, coordinator of the Front in Defense of the Palestinian People in São Paulo, said that this morning's protest was "a broad unified action coordinated in the face of the urgency of the moment."
"We have seen the measures of Trump, who is sending immigrants to Guantánamo and, at the same time, in an expansionist rhetoric, encouraging and threatening to expel two million Palestinians from Gaza in an attempt to achieve the final solution of the state of Israel, with its imperialism in the region," said Misleh.
"This demonstration takes on a sense of urgency. We are here to protest, to bring the voices of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and to say that this land is ours. Palestine is not for sale. We are rooted beyond time in that land. We are not leaving. Furthermore, we exist, we persist, and we will not be wiped off the map," concludes the Palestinian-Brazilian journalist.
The president of the Latin Palestinian Forum, Mohamad El-Kadri, also attended, dressed in Palestinian symbols. "We are here today to say a very big 'no' to Trump and Netanyahu: Trump, the Riviera is not Gaza. You have to worry about your problems. We came here to talk about the right of the Palestinian people to continue resisting in every possible way," he told Brasil de Fato.
"After all this time, the Palestinian people still live in Gaza, they want to stay in Gaza, and they won't leave Gaza. Trump, find another Riviera because Gaza belongs to the Palestinians. Free Palestine from the river to the sea," concluded El-Kadri.
Luciano Carvalho, from the state leadership of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), represented the organization at the demonstration alongside other activists. "The greatest brutality is massacring people, families, histories, and heritages of an entire people. Imagine a murderous state massacring a densely populated region with missiles, tanks, and state-of-the-art explosive weapons. Such actions are nothing short of cowardly," said Carvalho.
"We are experiencing a live global disgrace. The cowards of Israel, who use the same Nazi tactics that they were victims of in a historic disgrace, show that part of their people have learned nothing. It is the Zionist and racist part that seeks ethnic cleansing. And now, most shamefully, imperialism is showing its face by wanting to turn Gaza without Palestinians, that sacred territory of struggle, into a real estate development. The MST stands with the Palestinian people," he concluded.
Riots and interventions
At one point, former São Paulo state deputy Douglas Garcia arrived at the demonstration accompanied by a man who recorded the event, causing a riot among the demonstrators. Garcia, who identifies himself as "Christian," "pro-life," and "anti-communist," was removed by military police.
On the other side of the demonstration, Garcia told Brasil de Fato that he went to the demonstration to "question whether the people support the creation of a Jewish state as well. If they defend the 'river to the sea, Palestine now,' they are defending the elimination of the Jewish state. Is that fair?" he asked.
Civil police recording the demonstration / Caroline Oliveira/Brasil de Fato
Another riot broke out when security officers engaged with Bruno Falko, a member of the Palestinian Front, who resisted their request to frisk him. The police even asked for the IMEI of the activist's cell phone—a kind of identity document number for the device—to verify the phone's origin.
Seven Military Police vehicles were at the scene, as well as two Civil Police cars. One civil police officer was dressed in the uniform of the State Department of Homicide and Protection of the Person, which investigates crimes against life.
Brasil de Fato inquired about the police interventions with the demonstrators and is currently awaiting a response.
