Stop the genocide in Palestine! Arms embargo now!

Dec. 21 — Freezing weather didn’t stop hundreds of people from rallying in New York City’s Times Square today to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. The Shut It Down 4 Palestine Coalition called the action on the last Saturday before Christmas.

The coalition demanded “an arms embargo, lifting the siege on Gaza, freedom for our political prisoners, an end to the genocide, and a free Palestine, from the river to sea.”

The 80,000 tons of bombs shipped by Genocide Joe Biden have killed at least 50,000 Palestinians, including tens of thousands of children. Fascist Donald Trump will continue the mass murder as well as the U.S. bombing and occupation of Syria.

U.S.-made and paid-for munitions have killed thousands in Lebanon. Heroic Yemen has been bombed by the U.S., Britain, and the Zionist apartheid regime.

As the statement of the Shut It Down 4 Palestine Coalition pointed out, “A child is murdered in Gaza every 30 minutes. Journalists have been systematically targeted: 196 journalists have been murdered by Israel. …

“About 96% of children in Gaza fear imminent death at the hands of Zionist soldiers, from starvation, from freezing to death. Over 1,000 doctors and nurses have been intentionally murdered in Gaza, with many more disappeared in Zionist dungeons.”

Thousands of shoppers and tourists saw the protest. Many showed their support.

Speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement, The People’s Forum, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation denounced the ongoing genocide. They described how children are freezing to death in Gaza.

So are homeless people in the United States. The tens of billions the U.S. capitalist government gives to war criminal Netanyahu kills them both.

People chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” A drummer punctuated the chants.

Protesters marched down Broadway to Manhattan’s Herald Square and then to the great reference library on Fifth Avenue. Marching through the holiday shopping booths erected in Bryant Park, some of the workers gave a thumbs-up to protesters.

Activists are organizing to protest Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, which desecrates the federal holiday commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. People will demonstrate in Washington, D.C., and across the country, including in New York City’s Washington Square Park in Manhattan.

Arms embargo now! Free Palestine!