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An anti-terror demonstration was disrupted yesterday by those with opposing viewpoints. The Israeli news site Arutz Sheva describes it:
Arabs Attack U.S. Anti-Terror March
San Francisco, California police were braced for more violence Monday following yesterday’s violent attack by Arabs and other anti-Zionists who charged into a crowd of 500 anti-terror protestors.
Fists flew as the pro-Israel group gathered in Berkeley and heard speakers denounce terrorism. More than 200 anti-Israel demonstrators yelled taunts at the crowd until several of them tried to break up the anti-terror rally while waving Palestinian flags and covering their faces, posing as would-be Arab terrorists.
“Two, four, six, weight, we are martyrs, we can’t wait,” several of them chanted as they charged the crowd. Riot police separated the two sides after several fights broke out. One man was arrested for assault as “emotions were high,” according to a police sergeant.
Among the anti-Israeli crowd were many Arabs, including Cairo-born Essam Maghoub, who said, “We are here to make sure these people are ashamed of themselves. They [Israelis] stole our land, raped our women, destroyed our olive trees and destroyed our homes.”
The rally featured the bombed-out bus number 19 that Arab suicide terrorists bombed in Jerusalem last year, killing 11 people and injuring 45. The same bus is to stand in San Francisco at a similar rally Monday afternoon, which is Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the United States. The holiday is in memory of Dr. King, who was assassinated during a non-violence demonstration which characterized his struggle against segregation.
“They attempted to disrupt the rally through the same kinds of intimidation and indiscriminate violence that are the hallmarks of our 21st century scourge, global terrorism,” said David Meir-Levi who was the master-of-ceremonies at the Berkeley rally.
The San Mateo Times has a somewhat more innocuous-sounding account of the event:
Israeli and Palestinian activists clash in Berkeley
BERKELEY Emotions ran high Sunday as hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli activists clashed over the presence of a bombed-out bus from Jerusalem where 11 people died.
Berkeley police cited one person for battery after activists’ angry shouts erupted into a brief shoving match, said police spokesman Joe Okies.
About 45 officers broke up the 10-minute disturbance and stood between the opposing groups with their batons drawn.
Tensions ran high throughout the three-hour event.
A crowd estimated at 500 people gathered at Martin Luther King Jr. Park at the Berkeley Civic Center, listening to speakers condemn worldwide terrorism.
Organizers of the event said the twisted metal wreckage of the bus, blown up by a suicide bomber in January 2004, was being shown to remind people how terrorism harms innocent people going about their daily lives.
So this was a peaceful demonstration, the purpose of which was to condemn terrorism.
But pro-Palestinian activists, who numbered about 200, gathered across the street in protest, arguing the bus doesn’t tell the whole story of the Middle East conflict in which innocent Palestinians have also been killed.
They lined up along Martin Luther King Jr. Way holding signs with the names and shadowy outlines of Palestinian civilians who have died in the conflict.
At one corner of the park, about a dozen vocal activists shouted across the street at one another, trading insults and angry words.
“Black, red, green and white. We’re Palestinians. We’re here to fight,” chanted several men wearing kuffiyehs, the traditional headdress of Palestinians.
Regardless what the counter-protesters are called, or what their rationale is, they were declaring themselves as being in favor of terrorism, specifically in favor of the targeting of civilians on a bus for murder. One wonders if those who support blowing up busses carrying civilians, also support the actions of Al-Qaeda on 9-11.
