Rifka Amalia, Jakarta – Protesters from a coalition of musicians have held a defend Palestine solidarity action in front of the United States Embassy in Central Jakarta in which they condemned the Israeli attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
A number of people could be seen gathering in front of the US Embassy on Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Friday May 31. The action was joined by the Musicians Coalition for Gaza, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Perempuan Mahardika (Free Women) and Greenpeace Indonesia.
The demonstrators, who setup a sound system and wore a variety of attributes, brought posters with messages asking Israel to stop the genocide. The action was accompanied by speeches and the raising of the Palestinian flag.
The action began with the protesters putting up photographs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with a poster illustrating a black-and-white eye reading "All eyes on Rafah".
The demonstrators then wrote "Free Palestine" in the concrete barrier across from the US Embassy.
Then they drew pictures and wrote sentences to voice their anger towards Israel, after which these were placed on the concrete barrier alongside the other posters.
Throughout the action, the protesters chanted "all eyes on Rafah" and "free Palestine". They also shouted in unison the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".
The demonstrators also demanded that the US stop the supply of weapons to Israel and called for a boycott of products that are affiliated with or support Israel and its allies.
One of the action coordinators who is also a musician, Eka Annash, said they will send a petition to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, president elect Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
"With this action, it actually appears visual, yeah, but later we also want to scale it up. After this we want to submit it again. If now we are still at the horizontal level on the streets. After we finish this we want to be more vertical again, in the sense that it is directed more at the legislative, the executive", Annash explained at the action.
"We want to send a petition to Bu [Mrs] Retno, Pak [Mr] Jokowi, and Pak Prabowo to launch more concrete actions. Condemning American and Israeli actions in Palestine. So it re-confirms our statements as a country, as Indonesia to America and Israel if we don't agree with what is happening in Palestine", she added. (idn/idn)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "All Eyes On Rafah, Massa Gelar Aksi Bela Palestina di Depan Kedubes AS".]
