The rain that had soaked the city all morning was just beginning to end on Saturday, March 2nd, when the CPUSA’s Baltimore club joined other progressive forces in Baltimore City to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
The action began outside of Baltimore’s City Hall, with speakers from several organizations shedding light on the history of Palestine and the genocidal atrocities that Israel has been unleashing on Gazans since October of last year. As the crowd grew to the hundreds, participants took to the street. They marched through downtown Baltimore to bring attention to the plight of the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in Rafah and bracing for an expected Israeli assault on the city.
The marchers strategically shut down I-83, the highway that runs through central Baltimore, which local police had unsuccessfully tried to prevent. Protestors called attention to the links between the Baltimore Police Department and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, citing IDF trainings that Baltimore City police officers have received.
Saturday’s rally and march was an inspiring act of solidarity from Baltimore. It was just one of many such demonstrations taking place in cities across the globe for Palestine, in solidarity with its struggle for liberation from Israeli occupation. Building and sustaining the movement for a ceasefire in Gaza is an essential task for progressive forces in the United States as we continue to challenge U.S. imperialism from its core and ensure that the pro-occupation, anti-democratic MAGA right forces are kept out of power.
Images: Baltimore CPUSA; People march in Baltimore on I-83 by Gabriel Donahue (Twitter/X)