Thousands gathered on Saturday for the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Hadash May Day parade in Nazareth, this after last Wednesday the police confiscated flags from the CPI branch in the city ahead of the march.
Between the red flags and the flags of Palestine, banners were carried against occupation of the Palestinian territories and capitalism and in favor of the dignity of the working class. Young Communist League orchestras filled the air with the sound of drums.
Among those who participated in Saturday’s march were the Secretary General of the CPI, Adel Amer; leading party activist, Mohammed Barakeh, chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Hadash Chairman Issam Makhoul, a former MK and current head of the Emile Touma Center, Issam Makhoul; Hadash MKs Aida Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif alongside with former Hadash MKs Dov Khenin, Afo Agbarieh and Abdallah Abu Ma’arouf.
The march ended around midday and was followed by a rally at the Mary’s Well Square where speakers addressed those gathered, stressing the determination of Hadash and the CPI to meet the challenges of the fascist government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At the end of the rally members of the Communist Party sang the “International”.
May Day demonstration, Saturday morning, in Nazareth (Photo: Zo Haderech)
May Day events commemorating this year’s International Workers’ Solidarity Day will take place today (Monday) with a number of rallies, demonstrations and debates across Israel, including in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Jerusalem, Acre, Kufr Yassif in the Western Galilee, and other locales.
Today morning, Palestinian workers from the occupied territories coming into Israel through the Eyal checkpoint, one of the busiest entries for Palestinian laborers, were handed flowers by CPI activists and Hadash members of the Knesset starting at dawn. Tens of thousands of Palestinians pass through Israeli checkpoints every day to reach their places of work. To earn a living for themselves and their families and get to work on time, many are forced to leave their homes as early as 2 or 3am and to wait in long lines at the checkpoints and, once through, board buses that take them into the Israeli cities where they work, often in construction.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=30977
