Rally denounces IDF shooting of Tristan Anderson

About 150 protesters rallied in front of the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco on March 16. They were demonstrating solidarity with Palestine and support for Tristan Anderson, a local union worker and longtime activist who was critically injured March 13 in the village of Ni’lin, close to Ramallah, Palestine.

Anderson was in the central West Bank city protesting the construction of the apartheid wall Israel is building through Ni’lin. Israeli military forces, armed and funded by the U.S., shot live ammunition at the protesters, hitting a local resident in the leg. They also shot high-velocity tear-gas canisters, one of which hit Anderson in the head. Anderson’s grave head wound was made worse when Israeli Defense Forces delayed an ambulance trying to reach the injured.

Speaker after speaker at the March 16 protest stated that the Israeli military unleashes such violence against the Palestinian people every day. One pointed out that on March 16, 2003, another San Francisco area activist, Rachel Corrie, was run over by a bulldozer and killed during a similar demonstration of support for the Palestinians.

One person held a sign made from the inside top of a pizza box reading: “They thought he [Anderson] was a Palestinian, so they shot him in the head.” As the crowd grew, they marched in the rain from the consulate onto the financial district streets, chanting, “Palestine will be free—from the river to the sea.” Some of the marchers were arrested for causing an evening rush-hour traffic jam.