Hundreds join second Gaza protest in Birmingham's Bullring

Jan 3 2009 by Andy Richards, Birmingham Mail

“We will be calling on the British government to increase its pressure on Israel to end the military operation in Gaza and for the unconditional lifting of the siege.”

A dozen coaches of Birmingham supporters were heading to London today to join a national demonstration in Trafalgar Square and on Monday, there will be a public meeting at Birmingham Council House.

Yesterday, thousands of people demonstrated against Israel’s attacks on Gaza across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Israel bowed to international pressure to allow hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to leave besieged Gaza.

But it kept up attacks for a sixth day, including bombing a mosque it claimed was used to store weapons and destroying the homes of more than a dozen Hamas operatives.

More than 400 Gazans have been killed and 1,700 wounded in the Israeli campaign, Gaza health officials said. The number of combatants and civilians killed is unclear, but Hamas said about half of the dead are members of its security forces and the UN has said more than 60 are civilians, 34 of them children.