Travelling around Stoke during August the City seemed to have gone to sleep. It was very quiet! I’m sure that apart from no school traffic this was an illusion. There were plenty of festivals and events all over the conurbation. Nor did Sumud Palestine go to sleep! Two W.Is learned something about the Occupation; Roos and Alice interviewed Mohammed and Angela for their film on Sumud in Palestine; several supporters rallied to be present at the a Burton-on-Trent Magistrates Court hearing ofr the Shenstone Elbit protestors. They are now scheduled to appear at Stafford Crown Court on 9 November. Angela attended a Volunteer in Palestine meeting in Leicester and was pleased to meet a fellow olive picker and to see Baha Hilo on a video link to the West Bank.
In the meantime, Netanyhu got cross because Daniel Barenboim announced that he would take his orchestra to Tehran only to have Iran to refuse him a visa. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra were not invited to play at the Proms to avoid a repeat of last year’s disruption by protestors!
Cina and Jim joined the march through Cardiff demanding the expulsion of Israel from UEFA ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifying match between Wales and Israel
Tom Houghton reported on the March as follows:
Around 1,500 people took part in the march in Cardiff
An estimated 1,500 pro-Palestine protesters marched towards the Cardiff City Stadium ahead of Wales’ Euro Championship qualifier against Israel in protest at the away side’s UEFA membership.
The march, which began at City Hall, travelled through the city centre and finished at Jubilee Park next to the Cardiff City Stadium, where around 300 people from the pro-Israel Zionist Federation also gathered.
But the two groups were kept around 100 metres apart by barriers, as police looked to take control of the situation.
The two demos, planned by both the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PCS) and the Zionist Federation, were planned to coincide with the match which kicked off at 5pm.
Numbers for the pro-Palestinian march were far higher than organisers expected, as an estimated 1,500 people gathered in the sun, meeting outside Cardiff Crown Court.
Once there, they marched down Castle Street and through Canton towards Jubilee Park, Leckwith, past hundreds of fans also heading to the ground and causing traffic to be temporarily halted.