Bristol will be holding a ‘funeral procession’ as a stark act of protest over Israel’s genocide in Gaza

On Saturday 16 March the Bristol Palestine Alliance will stage Bristol’s 10th “Peace Procession for Palestine” – this time with a mass funeral march. The event will be attended by thousands of Bristolians of all faiths and none, united in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Bristol Palestine Alliance: a symbolic, mass funeral procession

Bristol Palestine Alliance was formed in response to the horrific events happening in Gaza.

Acting as an umbrella group, it brings members from organisations and groups and communities in Bristol together to respond collectively to organise marches and other events to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestine. It is based on the network of solidarity that has been successfully built in this city over many years. Now, it’s taking another action.

The march on 16 March will include the carrying of coffins in a symbolic, mass funeral procession. This will be a visually stark reminder of Israel’s brutality in its ongoing bombing of Gaza.

People on the march will also carry handwritten scrolls of the names of the dead. The marchers will mourn and honour the over 30,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children – over 13,000 of them, children and babies – that Israel has killed during over 160 days of bombing in Gaza; what was the most densely populated area in the world.

“Unimaginable” horror in Gaza

Bristol Palestine Alliance said:

The scale of indiscriminate bombing is unimaginable and under-reported as Israel denies access to international journalists and observers.

There are relentless eye-witness reports of war crimes being committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces: the deliberate targeting of Palestinian children by Israeli snipers; the wanton destruction of Palestinian homes and entire neighbourhoods – schools, hospitals, mosques, churches – and the entire Palestinian civilian infrastructure in Gaza being reduced to rubble.

High ranking Israeli politicians openly calling for the “wiping out” of Palestinians. Israel’s deliberate blocking of water, food and aid to the Palestinian people has led the International Court of Justice to open an investigation of genocide – the most unspeakable of crimes – against the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Meanwhile, the crimes of the Israeli Occupation Forces continue unabated. Famine now stalks Gaza. People are dying of hunger since Israel’s assault on Gaza and the West Bank began in October 2023

Israel must be held to account – and Bristol will

Bristol has responded with repeated mass marches to rallies on College Green in central Bristol attended by up to 10,000 people together with almost daily smaller rallies, pickets, sit-down protests, vigils, and direct-action. Many Bristol people have also travelled to the London marches including five coaches to the national march on 11 November 2023.

A spokesman for BPA said:

To deflect from its failings, the international community, including our own government, has resorted to pitiful air drops of aid, while Israel continues to drop bombs. The international community is either impotent against Israel or complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.

On 16 March, people will meet in Bristol at Castle Park at 12pm. At 12.30pm they will begin the Mass Funeral Procession to City Hall, College Green. There, BPA will hold a public spiritual ceremony as the coffins are placed outside City Hall. The public will then hear from engaging and passionate speakers.

Featured image via Bristol Palestine Alliance