Thousands march in solidarity with Palestine

Thousands of people braved the hot weather as they marched through the Kuala Lumpur city centre this afternoon in a mass rally to show their solidarity with Palestinians.

Estimated to be in the tens of thousands, the crowd, mobilised by the PAS women's wing and supported by several other groups, first rallied in front of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Twin Towers mosque before they started walking towards the US Embassy, about 2km away in Jalan Tun Razak.

Black, white, and green flags were flying high and chants of “Hidup, Hidup, Hidup Palestin” and “Hidup Hidup, Hidup Hamas” reverberated throughout the streets.

Buried among the crowd were some familiar faces, namely Perak PAS chief Razman Zakaria, and former MPs Tian Chua and Mukhriz Mahathir.

The rally was held in conjunction with the first anniversary of the ongoing war that began on Oct 7 and reportedly saw over 42,000 Palestinian lives lost, as estimated by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Over 100 police officers, assisted by PAS' Jabatan Amal volunteers, were seen monitoring the crowd and controlling the traffic flow as the protesters crossed the roads to reach the embassy building.

Among the groups that supported the rally were the political party Pejuang, a coalition of Islamic groups called Gerakan Pembela Ummah, as well as NGOs Islamic Consumers Association, Malaysian Islamic Education Development Council, Muslim Network of Penang, and graduates from the Malaysian Educational Institutions Organisation.

After marching for about half an hour, the crowd stopped about 500m from the US Embassy where police had put on a cordon.

They then rallied at the location to listen to several leaders giving their speeches from atop a makeshift stage.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, who addressed the crowd in the evening drizzle in the final speech, called for full solidarity with the Palestinians.

He said the solidarity movement from Gaza to the skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur will continue to rattle Tel Aviv and its allies in the quest to liberate Palestine.

“The head (of the struggle) is in Gaza, Palestine, and its tail is in Southeast Asia. (That is) the length of this resistance (against Israeli atrocities),” he said as the crowd chanted “Takbir!”.

The protest concluded with a passionate prayer by PAS clerics’ wing deputy chief Zulkifli Ismail calling for Israel to be wiped out and peace in Palestine.

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