Marchers join Code Pink rally for Palestinians
More than 100 marchers, including many parents and children, rallied Saturday on the Golden Gate Bridge in support of Palestinians under siege in Gaza as a humanitarian crisis there continues to unfold.
Organized by the grassroots feminist group Code Pink SF Bay Area, protesters carried props representing sacks of flour to highlight the grave lack of food, water and other resources for Palestinians.
“There are 2 million people starving right now in Gaza,” said Toby Blomé, an organizer with Code Pink, addressing about two dozen people outside the bridge’s Welcome Center before the march.
Dire conditions in Gaza have continued to spur protests across the United States since Israel launched a war in response to Hamas militants’ deadly Oct. 7 assault. The war has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, including 10,000 children, in addition to 1,400 Israelis.
Marchers took to the bridge sidewalk just after noon, chanting slogans such as “Cease-fire now” and “Stop bombing children!” Many passing motorists honked their horns in solidarity.
Riding by the protesters on a bicycle, Laurie Bendell pumped a fist and cheered them on.
Visiting from West Palm Beach, Fla., Bendell said she came to the city for a friend’s memorial service and was heartened to see protesters bring the cause to such a public place.
Bendell said she was in Tel Aviv in October when Hamas invaded Israel, killing at least 1,200 people and taking an additional 240 hostage. She remained in Israel as the government launched its brutal retaliation. “I heard bombs dropping all day,” she said.
“I have Jewish family and Palestinian friends,” she said. “To me, there’s no justification for 30,000 dead.”
Ruby Enriquez, who had driven from Fairfield and was pushing her 10-month-old daughter, bundled in blankets, in a stroller, said: “You can’t call yourself a feminist and not support the women of Gaza. I’m pushing myself to be uncomfortable because they’re uncomfortable.”
Ruby Kazi of Sunnyvale came with her daughters, ages 10 and 14, carrying signs referencing the shorthand acronym doctors in Palestine use for injured and orphaned children: WCNSF or “wounded child, no surviving family.”
The Golden Gate Bridge “is such an iconic place” to rally, Kazi said. “As a parent, the devastation in Gaza is the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Golden Gate Bridge District officers intervened when one of the protesters began writing “Free Gaza” in purple chalk on the sidewalk. “You can’t do that. It’s district ordinance,” an officer said.
Carrying a sign reading “No tax $$ 4 genocide,” City College of San Francisco instructor Kathe Burick said the timing of the protest a day after International Women’s Day was meant to underscore the critical plight of families in the war.
“So many women and children are being killed in this massacre,” she said.