Stop the attack on Rafah! NYC students mobilize for Gaza

Thousands of New York City students mobilized again on Friday, Feb. 16, to protest the genocidal attacks on Gaza. They gathered from all over the city at the big reference library on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

Hundreds of them were high school students. Two hundred students marched out of Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. Other schools had smaller walkouts.

One long banner carried by members of the Palestinian Youth Movement read, “Stop Arming Israel / Arms Embargo Now!” Genocide Joe Biden is demanding another $14 billion of weapons for the Zionist regime’s assault on Rafah.

As was done during the 1980s struggle against the then apartheid South Africa, students are demanding their schools divest from the apartheid regime occupying Palestine. Students from the State University of New York carried a banner, “Israel Bombs / SUNY Pays.”

Another banner read, “SVA [School of Visual Arts] Students Against Genocide Apartheid Zionism.”

Among the speakers at the rally were representatives of Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Roger Wareham, a member of the December 12th Movement’s International Secretariat, reminded people of the struggle against the Vietnam War. Palestine, like Vietnam, will win.

Despite police harassment, people marched down Fifth Avenue, turning west on 34th Street. Many people on the busy shopping street showed their support.

The march went north on Eighth Avenue, with people stopping by the New York Times headquarters to protest its lying coverage. Hundreds of people made it to 48th Street before dispersing, vowing to continue the struggle for Palestine.