Orlando vigil to remembers those killed by Israel over last year
Orlando, FL- Thirty activists gathered outside of City Hall in downtown Orlando for a vigil to mourn and remember the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. This was the second of several events being organized each day as part of a week of action to mark one year since Israel began bombing Gaza.
Local activists lined the steps of City Hall with photos of Palestinian children killed since October 2023. They also placed flowers, tea lights candles, and 50 tombstones that each represented over 1000 Palestinians murdered by Israel over the last year.
In between the lines of tombstones were dozens of pairs of children's shoes, symbolizing the innocent lives of children taken by U.S. bombs and weapons used in Israel’s war on Palestine and Lebanon. The display also included 100 Palestinian and Lebanese flags.
Throughout this gathering, police circled around on bikes before concealing themselves inside of City Hall to look out onto the group from above. Several activists at the vigil had been brutalized and arrested a week earlier in a previous Palestine Solidarity action. This night, the police decided not to engage – perhaps because so much video evidence of their violent attacks on protesters on September 21 has since gotten so much negative national attention.