Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli rallies compete for attention at UC Berkeley
BERKELEY -- Two competing protests were held at the same time over the Israel-Hamas war Monday afternoon on the UC Berkeley campus.
Chopper footage showed the dueling demonstrations. Both sides were speaking out against the violence. Some rally attendees showed their support of Palestinians, making their voices heard about the history of conflict between Israel and Palestine.
They chanted, "Resistance is justified when people are occupied!" while holding up signs and forming a large circle in front of Sather Gate at the south end of campus.
"We are protesting the occupation of Palestine by Israel and the bombing of Gaza and killing of innocent lives. We're hoping we can get our message out and make people aware of the atrocities Israel commits on Palestine every day," said a UC Berkeley student who gave his name as Yezzen. "We believe Israel occupies Palestine and that land belongs to the indigenous Palestinians."
Meanwhile demonstrators carrying Israeli flags held a counter protest, condemning the Hamas attack on Oct. 7th that killed more than a thousand people.
"My friends were were killed in the battle. There was a festival, a music festival in Israel. 3,000 people went to this festival. About 500 young people celebrating peace, celebrating music, celebrating values for the world by the boarder with Gaza, celebrating good things were massacred," said one pro-Israel demonstrator.
The simultaneous rallies were both peaceful.
