A solidarity rally for Palestinians in Gaza was held in Peterborough in front of city hall.

At the scheduled start time, 5 p.m., there were only around 30 people in attendance. Then, by 6 p.m., there were over 100 people gathered in support of Palestine.

The rally was organized in part by members of the Canadian “revolutionary socialist group,” the International Socialists (IS). Trent Radio spoke with one IS member responsible for organizing the rally Peter Votsch.

“I felt that we needed to do something in response to the bombing that was taking place in Gaza. There had not been a call put out in Peterborough that I was aware of,” says Votsch.

Votsch shared that the planning of the event was last minute and that they were not sure how many people were going to show up.

“We hoped for 30 or 40 [people] and got more than double that.”

There were many reasons why Votsch felt it important to hold a demonstration in Peterborough, but he simplified their purpose to one sentence: “The message was: Stop the bombing and free Palestine.”

Votsch hoped that they would also “look at the root causes of what has led to the events of the last 2-3 weeks in the Middle East:” which he believes is “colonialism.” He feels that this is an “anti-colonialist struggle” that has been “conflated with religion.”

Votsch, and the IS, believes that Palestinians “have the right to resist.”

Listen to Trent Radio’s interview with Peter Votsch: