Activists Take to the Streets of Victoria in Desperate Bid to Save Rafah

About 275 protesters occupied intersections across the city of Victoria to ratchet up the pressure on our government, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the Israel Defence Forces assail the city of Rafah, last refuge of 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

Emergency rallies across the world had been called in response on this very day, including two in Vancouver. The matter was so grave that it could not wait until the next weekend rally; action had to be taken immediately, and it had to be more radical than protests which so far have been either ignored or repressed.

The action was only called at about ten in the morning, merely eight hours ahead of time. I expected a mere hundred to show up on such short notice; instead most of the usual weekend protesters did, and quite a few brought a friend with them.

The announcement only called for a rally at the Legislature, and no one outside the organisers’ closest circle knew about an unsanctioned march. I am in touch with the organisers, and I knew nothing until the last moment. Obviously the cops were caught completely by surprise, and although they mobilised quickly they simply couldn’t muster the numbers to round us up.

The procession started on Government Street, heading for the intersection with Wharf and Humboldt, where it formed a perimeter and stood its ground. An organiser spoke of his pain, despair, and outrage that our calls had remained unheard over the course of eighteen weeks. He screamed, rather than spoke, of his angst knowing his people were making their last stand, cornered at the border with Egypt, which obviously will not allow over a million refugees onto its soil.

We then turned onto Wharf, and halted again at the entrance to the Johnson Street Bridge. VicPD set up a cordon and warned the organisers not to cross it lest they faced arrest. They were content to occupy the intersection for a few minutes, however, with more speeches condemning the government’s complicity. The emcee even denounced VicPD’s reaction, calling it an attempt at muzzling the crowd in response to the people exercising its sacrosanct right to protest.

While the organisers had announced they would lead the march back to the Legislature via Government Street, it was only a feint, instead keeping to Johnson Street until Douglas Street which is far more crowded. We would stop at that intersection, then at Fort, then again at Humboldt. Speakers kept hammering the message others had been rehearsing at the weekend rallies. One spoke of the role of dehumanisation in genocide, which starts subtly until, decades later, entire peoples are rounded up and reduced to target practice. Another relayed her family’s plight back in Gaza, describing the ordeal one faced under the decades-long Israeli occupation, such as her uncle having once been reduced to playing dead in order to cross checkpoints to a hospital in Rafah in an ambulance.

Our itinerary led us back to the Legislature without incident. No arrests were made, and VicPD did not care at any point to call for the crowd to disperse. Nevertheless, there’s no question that after chanting slogans comparing the cops to the IDF and KKK, the organisers’ relationship with the local police has soured. It remains to be seen how VicPD will adapt its strategy for future weekend protests and sanctioned marches, but tension is certain to rise between the factions.