Philadelphia: Martyrs Day march for Palestine

Over 1,000 people marched in rain and sometimes gale force winds in recognition of Palestinian Martyrs Day and International Working Women’s Day in Philadelphia on March 9. Starting with a rally at Rittenhouse Square, the crowd took to the streets, heading around City Hall and up North Broad to Spring Garden Street. They ended outside the headquarters of arms manufacturer Day & Zimmermann. At a closing rally there, protesters carried mock cardboard missiles with slogans targeting the company for profiting from genocide.

The privately owned munitions manufacturer outsources to several U.S. factories that produce much of the artillery munitions used by the Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza. This includes the highly explosive M830A1 rounds Israeli tanks fired at a United Nations school in Gaza in November.  

Israeli tanks fired M830A1 rounds Jan. 29 that killed 6-year-old Hind Rajab, her six family members and the medics who attempted to rescue her in the Gaza neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa. The serial number on an exploded round found inside the ambulance indicates it was produced by Mason & Hanger, a subsidiary of Day & Zimmermann.

In honor of International Working Women’s Day, March 8, some speakers addressed the particular plight of Palestinian women in Gaza, where Israel has killed an average of two women an hour since October 7.

Speakers throughout the protest included representatives from Philippine rights group Anakbayan, Palestine prisoners support group Samidoun, Health Care Workers for Palestine, Temple University Students for Justice in Palestine and the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition, which organized the event. The PPC has organized over 400 actions in support of Gaza since the coalition’s formation. Workers World Party Philadelphia is a member of the coalition and was an endorser of the rally.