More than 1,000 protesters endured the heat wave Sunday in San Francisco to march through the streets in remembrance of a year since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Organizers, who kicked off the rally around midday at 16th and Valencia Streets, said their chief demands include an immediate end to the conflict and an arms embargo against Israel.
They argue that U.S. support for Israel has continued despite domestic budget constraints and opposition among Democratic and independent voters.
The event began with a blue tarp laid across Valencia Street’s center bike lane to permit prayers before rally hosts led chants for a free Palestine.
“We are here today to say that we are undeterred and we know that liberation and return is imminent and inevitable,” one organizer said before calling for a moment of silence. “We come here in mourning and we come here with pride in our people, in their resistance, and in their sacrifice.”
Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, said the past year has been marked by grief for local communities advocating for peace and justice.
After a rendition of the Palestinian national anthem, Kiswani addressed the cheering crowd.
“Somewhere, beneath the rubble in Gaza, in the West Bank, and in Lebanon, there are new poppies growing, new stories waiting to be told, and our songs carrying us through,” she said.
“Because the reality, my friends, is there are no more words, so to speak now is humbling and somewhat an impossible task we must all take up,” she continued. “It is our duty not only to speak out, it is our responsibility to act for the people of Palestine and for the sake of humanity.”
Kiswani praised protesters for helping to build “the largest movement for Palestinian freedom in world history.”
As marchers began moving away from the intersection and along 16th, Mission, and 18th streets, antisemitic graffiti was seen outside Manny’s Cafe, a popular Mission cafe and event space with a well-known Jewish owner.
San Francisco police closed some intersections, while protesters coordinated traffic flows away from marchers and a sound truck.
Protests against the conflict and the United States’ support of Israel have been a regular occurrence in San Francisco and around the region since the day after the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack in which Hamas militants reportedly killed at least 1,200 Israelis and took nearly 250 civilians as hostages. The war in Gaza has killed more than 41,595 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to local health authorities.
In the year that followed the attack, activists organized high-profile demonstrations, filling neighborhood streets and blocking major bridges and intersections, in protest of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. In the U.S., antisemitism and Islamophobia have risen both nationally and locally as Israel has expanded its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and been struck by ballistic missiles from Iran.