San Antonio’s Main Plaza echoes with calls for Gaza cease-fire

Hundreds of protesters rallied at Main Plaza and marched downtown Sunday to call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, describing the thousands of civilians killed there by Israeli airstrikes as a genocide.

Fists up and carrying signs and Palestinian flags, the participants numbered about 300 at the rally’s peak, many wearing black and white checkered keffiyehs, the traditional scarf that has become a signal of support for Palestine.

The rally, organized by the San Antonio Party for Socialism and Liberation, also criticized Mayor Ron Nirenberg for saying he would not end San Antonio’s sister city relationship with Tel Aviv, the former Israeli capital, that then-Mayor Julián Castro established in 2011. Nirenberg also has said he had no plans to seek a City Council proclamation favoring a cease-fire.

Protesters chanted, “Ron, Ron, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

“I hate to see my tax dollars pay the salary of people like Ron Nirenberg, who listen to public comment in (council meetings) and ignore Palestinians when they tell him to end the friendship agreement with Tel Aviv, Israel,” said Tory Cruz, an organizer with PSL. 

Protesters marched about 2 miles from Main Plaza to the San Antonio EuroJournal-News office on Broadway to decry recent editorials on the conflict. 

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, in response to terror attacks Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 Israelis and others. Hamas still holds more than 200 hostages. Israeli air strikes and shelling of densely populated urban areas have killed more than 11,000 people, including at least 3,000 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Several speakers at Main Plaza called for an end to Israel’s attack. In a pre-march round of speeches, none mentioned the Oct. 7 attack and none of those affiliated with the PSL mentioned Hamas by name. One of several others invited to address the crowd received cheers when she said Israel, not Hamas, was responsible for the violence in Gaza. 

Carrying signs saying “Cease-fire Now” and “Free Palestine,” a 33-year-old participant who identified herself as CC said she recently attended the protest at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Nov. 12 that drew thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. 

Palestinians “deserve to have their land. … What Israel is doing is awful and disgusting,” she said. “It just keeps getting worse.”

Some displayed a huge banner bearing several thousand names, said to list only half of those killed in Gaza since the war began. Nadia A, a PSL organizer who said she was of Palestinian descent and declined to give her last name, was teary and visibly shaken as she viewed the names.

“I stand in front of you shaking because I am so angry, I am so sad, I am so tired of having to convince the world that these people matter,” Nadia said. “I am deeply impacted by what is happening right now, but it is also moving me in a way that nothing has ever moved me in my entire life, and I hope it does the same for you.”