On World Children’s Day, a group gathered to commemorate children who lost their lives in Palestine, estimating 16,000 child fatalities due to bombings, hunger, thirst, and treatable diseases following Israeli incursions.
In the morning, near the Serralves Foundation at the entrance to Serralves em Festa, men, women, and children demanded justice, also remembering parents who witness their children dying in their arms.
“The most unbearable thing is that this has become ‘normal.’ It’s a humanitarian scandal, but it no longer provokes the outrage it should. It’s become background noise. Our capacity for compassion seems anesthetized, as if no one is responsible,” said Catarina Milhazes.
This initiative aimed to “alert everyone passing through Serralves em Festa,” stated Catarina Milhazes.
“We take this opportunity at a city event in Porto that draws thousands to raise awareness about what’s happening in Palestine,” added the movement’s spokesperson, speaking to Lusa with her young daughter in her arms.
The spokesperson emphasized that the present mothers and fathers, “are not typically activists,” but are people who feel “outraged” by the situation in Gaza, describing it as “undeniably genocide,” and throughout the Palestinian territories.
Catarina Milhazes criticized what she sees as the silence of European institutions and the Portuguese government, referring both to Israel’s military actions and to the “Israeli settlers,” who she claims, continue the ethnic cleansing.
“This has always been Israel’s project. Therefore, Portuguese and European citizens have often contested it, along with people worldwide, from Ethiopia to Senegal, Morocco, Latin America, to Asian countries. The whole world opposes genocide,” she added.
For the spokesperson, it is time to “hold accountable the institutions that do nothing in response to what the world’s population is saying.”
“That’s why we’re here, to say it once more, en masse, whenever we can mobilize people, more and more people who don’t consider themselves activists join us. We also want to raise awareness about what can be done daily, including boycotting Israeli products, which is crucial to weakening Israel’s economy, prompting Israeli residents to realize they need to stop as well,” asserted Catarina Milhazes.
In addition to dolls wrapped in white cloths, participants displayed posters with messages such as “This is a call to dismantle the regime that massacres under the pretext of self-defense,” “Occupy, torture, kill, subject families and children to hunger and call it ‘counterterrorism,'” or “Israel kills a child every 45 minutes,” among others.
Across Avenida Marechal Gomes da Costa, drivers honked and shouted “Palestine” or “Free Palestine.”
This action included participation from Coletivo pela Libertação da Palestina, Estudantes do Porto em Defesa pela Palestina, the group ‘Parents for Peace,’ and other collectives.
After spending the morning at Serralves, the group plans to head to the waterfront of Avenida do Brasil in the afternoon, where they will spread children’s clothing on the ground to symbolize the ongoing deaths in Gaza.
“We must not respond with silence. It is not enough to say nothing changes because history proves otherwise. Slavery ended in the United States, apartheid was overturned in South Africa, women’s rights advanced, and Timor-Leste gained its independence. All thanks to the power of the people, mobilization, and collective pressure,” stated Catarina Milhazes.
She also emphasized the urgent need to reflect on the weak turnout at protests.
“When we come together, we cease to be isolated individuals and become a movement, pressure, and community. And that has a real impact. During these actions, we distribute flyers with concrete information on how each person can get involved: signing petitions, participating in boycotts of Israeli products and brands, pressuring political representatives” because “every gesture counts. Every silence does too.”
