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Follow Us on TwitterMELBOURNE: BDS Free Palestine rally 20May11 May 21, 2011
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the excellent pro- Palestine BDS action last night in Melbourne.
By far our biggest turn out yet, around 280 people attended, a 3 hour long protest through the shopping centres and streets of Melbourne in support of Palestine and against Israeli companies.
Our first target was Black Pearl (a rebadged Jericho) which is the facial products company that profits from stolen Palestinian salt from the Dead Sea. This stall in smack bang in the middle of Melbourne Central and in anticipation of our arrival the Victoria Police shut down almost the entirety of the second floor of Melbourne Central. The mere threat of our presence was enough to disrupt business as usual!
We weren’t satisfied however and continued the protest – handing out leaflets, and giving speeches to the startled Friday night shoppers. I am pleased to say, some even joined us.
A Students for Palestine member looked up what was happening on the Tweets, and discovered the following
“Massive protest in the middle of Melbourne Central about genocide in Palestine”
…
Melbourne Central lvl2 blocked by police & security, Students 4Palestine protest http://twitpic.com/4zzl57“
“Police on horses on Swanston. And everywhere in Melbourne Central and QV. Wassup?”
After spending some time in Melbourne Central raising awareness about the cause, we then marched out and shut down the Max Brenner chocolate shop. This is a shop that has supplied food packs to the Israeli Army and we managed to hold a sit down line out the front of the shop for around an hour!
Here are some photos from Ali Hogg taken at the action
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8514910@N08/sets/72157626642551167/
Anyhow, an excellent showing! Good work to all who came!
Vashti Kenway
Students for Palestine
Thank You.
