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West Coast Protest Rally Largest Ever
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gather at San Francisco's Civic Center in support of Palestine.
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By Ali Asadullah, IOL San Francisco Correspondent
SAN FRANCISCO, April 21 (IslamOnline) - The largest ever San Francisco rally in support of the Palestinian cause took place Saturday as over 20,000 protestors from as far away as Seattle and Los Angeles packed Dolores Park before marching through the city to the Civic Center plaza in front of City Hall.
An eclectic gathering, the rally was organized by International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) in solidarity with the protest and march in Washington, DC.
Co-sponsored and supported by a broad coalition of organizations that included labor unions, environmental activism groups, minority issue awareness organizations, faith communities and Muslim activists, the rally focused on imbalances in U.S. foreign policy in Palestine, injustice and criminality in Israeli military actions and occupation, and general American political apathy with reference to the plight of Palestinians.
Muslim groups from the entire San Francisco Bay Area were in strong attendance and Muslim activists featured prominently amongst the day's speakers.
At Dolores Park, Yousef al-Yousef, the national chairman of American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice - a co-sponsor of the event - had some choice words for politicians in Washington.
"Mr. Bush, this is the voice of America," said al-Yousef. "Mr. Bush, your job is to protect Americans; your job is not to protect Israelis. We want to take action; we want to liberate our Congress from the occupation of the Israeli lobby."
Al-Yousef also exhorted the crowd to target corporate America's support of Israel. In specific, he called for a boycott of the popular Starbucks chain of coffee houses because of recent comments by the company's CEO in support of Israel's actions against Palestinians.
Despite the passions of the marchers, the day's events were without incident, and police reported no arrests. Things did become somewhat tense at one point, however, when marchers reaching the Civic Center grounds detoured away from the main stage and gathering area, choosing instead to rush the steps of City Hall in a half-hearted attempt to enter the building.
A police cordon quickly formed and forced marchers away from the building's doors. That did not, however, stop protestors from starting their own mini-rally in front of City Hall, where cheers of "Free! Free Palestine!" were directed at the seat of San Francisco city government.
Eventually, all marchers made their way to the civic center grounds, where more speakers were featured over the course of the afternoon.
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