Day 3 Protest

On the third day of January, the blogging stopped, and protest began. We waited in infirmary fields to steward a march of what we hoped would be 200-300 people. At one o'clock, it looked nearer 2000 people, and by the end of the march, as we gathered in town, it could have been as many as 3000. Anger at the bombing of Gaza is huge, though mainly in the Muslim community. It was the largest demo we had seen in Bradford since the huge anti war demo in January 2003 - but this was the first time that young Muslims had dared showed so much courage in standing up for the Palestinians. Since 9/11, many have been to worried about being labelled extremists.

The march was peaceful and powerful. Even the police we surprised at how well managed it was. Our organisation - 'United for Palestine' will be a force to be reckoned with. The council have tried to silence it, but people cannot help but resist the bombing and inhumanity that they are seeing on their screens.

Following the demo, there has been vigils, occupations, blockades of companies supporting Israel and a large national demo which we were able to send 5 coaches to from Bradford. Until the bombing stops, until the siege of Gaza ends, the protests will not end.