Echoing DNC protests, Mainers call on Democratic leaders to back ceasefire in Gaza

Pro-Palestine protesters rallied in Portland's Monument Square on Aug. 21, 2024 in solidarity with activists at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/ Maine Morning Star)

Dozens of people gathered in Monument Square in Portland on a windy Wednesday evening to protest for a ceasefire in Palestine, echoing much larger protests in Chicago that have targeted the Democratic National Convention this week.

The protest, organized by Maine Coalition for Palestine, drew about 60 people to downtown, many carrying signs or Palestinian flags. Community activists read poems, led chants and gave speeches about the need to keep up the pressure in the call for a ceasefire and ending U.S. support of Israel.

Mainers have protested the war on Gaza at the State House, on college campuses, and through various communities since last fall.

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With death toll in Palestine surpassing 40,000 , many of whom are children, activists Fairen Stark and EJ Jenks held up paper mache birds with names of Palestinian children who were killed in the war. It was important to keep putting pressure on the Democratic Party to stop supporting Israel, Stark said.

She hopes that Maine’s Democratic delegates will advocate for the end of Israel’s occupation of Palestine at the DNC, and that Maine companies will also stop arming the war against Gaza. General Dynamics, which owns Bath Iron Works as well as a weapons factory in Saco, has been accused of sending arms to Israel.

“And I hope that they hear the people of Maine in our continued support for a ceasefire and for peace in the region,” Stark said.

Faisal Khan, founder of the Carolina Peace Center in North Carolina, reassured protesters that their actions would make a difference.

“There’s a lot of heartache, there’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of frustration. We feel we have not done anything, because we continue to see the images every day,” he said, referring to videos and photographs of civilian victims of the assault on Gaza. “You are making a difference. You’re making a profound difference. Because remember the day you put the seed is not the day you get the fruit.”

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