Dorchester: Silent protest for women and children of Gaza

The Women in Black Circle was held in South Street on Saturday and saw a group of women from Palestine Solidarity Campaign Dorset stood in a silent circle in the centre of the street.

The march (Image: Dorset PSC)

These women included Sam and Yoyo.

Sam said: “We are doing this because so many women and children are dying in Gaza and we thought something like this was a poignant way of putting things across.”

Yoyo added: “We do them all across Dorset. It’s been quite good and we have had a mostly positive response from people.

“I think sometimes silence speaks louder than words.”

Whilst the silent circle was taking place, there were a number of other members of the group standing either side of the street handing out posters and chatting to people.

Johnny Gannon, 17 and Gemma Fox-Worthington, 17 were handing out leaflets.

Johnny Gannon and Gemma Fox-Worthington (Image: Hollie Carr)

Johnny explained that the protest was to show solidarity with the people of Palestine, adding that they would soon be embarking on a ‘louder’ protest march down South Street as another way of raising awareness.

Gemma said: “It’s been a good day, lots of people have been taking flyers. We think people are starting to open their eyes."

Following the silent protest, the group stood together and speakers from the group took it in turns to talk into a microphone and deliver individual messages before marching down the street.

During the protest (Image: Dorset PSC)

Diane, a protestor whose husband is Palestinian, said: "I’ve been married to a Palestinian for almost 40 years. I’ve travelled throughout the West Bank and visited Gaza. The Palestinian people are the most welcoming I’ve ever met.

"The onslaught we are now seeing is sickening beyond words. To see my beautiful family denied the rights that we here take for granted needs to end. We cannot talk about human rights here whilst denying the Palestinians their human rights. I call on our government to ban arms sales to Israel immediately and demand a permanent ceasefire."

Beginning of the march (Image: Hollie Carr)

At 6pm the same day, a protest was held against the screening of the Eurovision Song Contest outside the Weymouth Pavilion.

Palestinians called for called for a global boycott of the show due to the organisers refusal to ban Israel - in contrast to the ban on Russia for its illegal invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

Protest outside Weymouth Pavilion (Image: Dorset PSC)

The singing competition has been overshadowed by protests in Malmo, Sweden, where the contest is being held, due to the inclusion of Israeli contestant Eden Golan in the final.