KUALA LUMPUR – Hundreds of people gathered across from the US embassy here to protest against Washington’s support for Israel’s strikes on Gaza.
About 400 people marched from the Tabung Haji mosque on Jalan Tun Razak towards the embassy building a stone’s throw away.
Participants brought their prayer mats along, as the timing of the protest coincided with the weekly Friday Muslim prayers.
A special five-minute prayer for Palestine was also recited before the march.
Several participants wore the keffiyeh, the black-and-white chequered Palestinian scarf, while shouting slogans for Palestine’s freedom.
The gathering was organised by the Secretariat Palestine of Malaysia.
Among notable faces in the crowd were former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who gave a short speech in front of the surau condemning Israel for killing innocent Palestinians, including children, in its strikes on Hamas targets.
The US embassy earlier today announced it would shut its front entrance to all pedestrian traffic from 12pm onwards.
The embassy was the scene of two earlier rallies, the first last Friday to express solidarity with the Palestinian people following Israel’s retaliation on Gaza for the October 7 surprise attack by Hamas on various sites along the Israeli border.
The second gathering was on Wednesday evening, the day after the deadly blast at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza city, which the territory’s health ministry said had killed at least 471 people. Both Israel and Hamas have denied responsibility for the explosion.
Besides Khairy, other politicians who arrived later included former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and ex-PKR man Chua Tian Chang, better known as Tian Chua.
Dr Mahathir, who gave a short speech, condemned the United States for supporting Israel. He said this meant the US also supported the bombing of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
Calling the strike on the hospital a crime, he said Washington’s support for Israel’s claim that its defence forces had not launched the strike “also shows that they (the US) are terrorists”.
Selangor executive councillor Anfaal Shaari, the Taman Templer assemblyman, also gave a short speech urging for the boycott of US-made goods.
Other groups that participated in the rally included the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, or Abim, and Semboyan Malaysia.
The crowd dispersed at about 3.20pm after Khairy and Pejuang president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir handed a memorandum to a US embassy representative. – October 20, 2023