For Immediate Release:
"Let Gaza Live!" March & Vigil, New Haven, Friday, Jan. 9, 5:30PM
Contact: Stan Hellar, Middle East Crisis Committee, 203-934-2761, 203-506-0953 (C)
Frank O'Gorman, People of Faith, 860-841-5006 (voicemail)
Political Interest. Interviews/Photo Opportunity.
Hundreds will march and rally in New Haven Friday January 9th at an event called "Let Gaza Live". The protest
is in response to the Israeli bombings and ground war against the Gaza Strip.
People will gather at 5 p.m. at the Center Church on the Green in New Haven, 250 Temple Street. The group will
march after 5:30PM on downtown streets (on the sidewalks) and gather again at the church for a vigil. Speakers will include Nada Khader of Wespac Foundation (NY), the poet Remi Kanazi, and Adam Shapiro,
International Solidarity Movement. There will also be Islamic and other activist speakers.
The rally is sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations, the Palestinian American Congress, the
Middle East Crisis Committee, ANSWER CT, People of Faith CT, Queers Without Borders, the CT Coalition for
Peace and Justice, We Refuse to be Enemies and International Socialist Organization-New Haven.
Mongi Dhaouadi, Executive Director of Connecticut CAIR said, "If targeting kids and innocent civilians in UN
schools is not a war crime, I don't know what is! Our political leaders must break their deafening silence and
call for an end to the killing of innocent and defenseless people in Gaza."
Leaders of the rally are angry at the silence of CT Congressional leaders about the Gaza attacks or their open
support for Israel's offensive. Stanley Heller, Chairperson of MECC said, "I went to the office of Rosa DeLauro
on January 6, after the massacre of 40 at the UN school in Gaza. I was told DeLauro still had not made any
statement about the Gaza situation. This is shameful. She should be condemning the Gaza massacre and siege."
"Christians throughout Connecticut stand in solidarity with the impoverished Palestinian refugees imprisoned in
Gaza who are being massacred by the Israeli government. Peace will only come to Palestine when the immoral
Israeli apartheid occupation, funded by US tax dollars, is dismantled," said Frank O'Gorman, director of People
of Faith CT.
--30--
People of Faith is an interfaith organization that works in collaboration with faith communities,
organizations and people of goodwill to articulate faith-based values as a foundation for
progressive politics and to mobilize constituents for social justice and peace activism.
|