PROVINCETOWN –– Around 40 demonstrators took to Commercial Street on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 3 to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. On signs and in speeches, they demanded that U.S. leaders stop supporting Israel in its war there.
The organizers of the demonstration, Provincetown residents Mike Sullivan and Ruby Thorkelson, an artist who goes by Ruby T, said they hoped the event would elevate awareness about the U.S.’s ongoing financial and military support of killings and rally support for a ceasefire.
This is the third march in Provincetown calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
“This is not an issue that’s going to go away tomorrow,” said Sullivan, 27, a costume artist and musician who lives in the East End. “This is something that needs a whole systematic, fundamental uprooting and change.”
The demonstration began at noon in front of the public library. “We’re all gathered here today for the liberation of Palestine,” said Alex Bonfiglio, 25, an organizer of Food Not Bombs, who drove from Hyannis out to Provincetown for the march.
“We are here to make it clear that we are in solidarity with the Palestinian people and denounce our government’s investment of our tax dollars in this ongoing violence,” said Ruby T, 37, during her speech in front of the library. She criticized President Joe Biden and described the U.S.’s role in the Middle East as “76 years of support of Israel’s dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people and their land.”
The group then marched west on Commercial Street, chanting “Ceasefire now” and “Free Palestine,” some wearing kaffiyehs, a traditional Arab scarf that in black and white has become a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, waving Palestinian flags, and carrying hand-painted signs.
Commercial Street was mostly deserted because of the rain and cold, leaving barely any audience for the demonstration. Among the few passersby, reactions were muted.
The group convened outside town hall to participate in a silent vigil for racial justice organized by members of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House before moving to Joe’s Coffee, where Ruby T recited a poem by Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, and marchers exchanged contact information with organizers.
One of those was Sam Bechtold, 32, an organizer with the Southeastern Massachusetts Coalition for Free Palestine. An engineer from West Barnstable, he said he has been organizing demonstrations across the region since October that he hopes will build consensus in the community.
“It’s time for a ceasefire,” said Nancy Najmi, who came from Wellfleet to attend the demonstration. “And also to treat Palestinians as humans.”
