Demonstration Today in Whitehall Against the Massacre of Unarmed Protestors in Gaza

Today over 2,000 demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street in Whitehall to make their voice heard about Israel’s massacre of unarmed demonstrators in Gaza.  Faced with a hermetically sealed siege for over a decade, a lack of freshwater, electricity, medical supplies and food people have taken to protesting at the border fence of Gaza demanding the right to return to where they came from – Israel.

Israel’s response has been, as shown below, the normal one which one expects.  27 people have been murdered and over a thousand have been injured by live gunfire.  This despite the fact that all those killed or injured are within concentration camp Gaza.

It is testimony to the cynicism of the West that there has been no response to these killings by the British government.  Jeremy Corbyn sent a message to the demonstration but we fear that he is going to go next week to appease the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council both of which support Israel’s massacre, blaming it on the Palestinians themselves. 

There was a contingent from Brighton and Hove there today, including some of us from Momentum.  Below are reports on the demonstrations in Gaza and also a report on the murder yesterday of a Palestinian journalist in Gaza.

Tony Greenstein

With the Great Return March, Palestinians Are Demanding a Life of Dignity

The Nakba is not a just a memory, it is an ongoing reality. We can accept that we all must eventually die; in Gaza, the tragedy is that we don’t get to live.

By Ahmad Abu Rtemah

A Palestinian clown entertains Palestinian refugee children at the tent city protest near the border with Israel, in Gaza, April 2, 2018. (Mohammed Talatene / picture-alliance / dpa / AP Images)

Khan Younis—Over the past eight days, tens of thousands of protesters in Gaza have breathed life into a place that is slowly being depleted of it. We have come together, chanting and singing a lullaby we’ve all longed for—“We will return”—bringing all that we have left to offer in an attempt to reclaim our right to live in freedom and justice. Despite our peaceful marches, we have been met with and clouds of tear gas and live fire from Israeli soldiers. Unfortunately, this is not new to Palestinians in Gaza, who have lived through many wars and a brutal siege and blockade.

Gaza is home to almost 1.9 million people, of which 1.2 million are refugees who were expelled from their homes and land during the establishment of Israel 70 years ago, known as the Nakba (catastrophe) to Palestinians. Since the beginning of the siege almost 11 years ago, the task of simply surviving each day has proved to be a challenge. To merely wake up and have access to clean water and electricity is now a luxury. The siege has been particularly hard on young people, who suffer from a 58 percent unemployment rate. What’s worse is that all of this is a result of Israeli policy, which can be changed. This harsh and difficult life does not have to be the reality for Gaza.

Members of the Orthodox Anti-Zionist Sect Neturei Karta

It is as though displacing us was not enough; it’s as if the entire memory of Palestinian refugees must be contained and erased.

Fishermen cannot go beyond six nautical miles, making it a challenge to gather enough fish to sustain their families. After Israel’s wars on Gaza, in 2008-09 and then again in 2012 and 2014, and all the killings that happened in between, the people here aren’t even afforded the chance to rebuild, as Israel has tightened its hold on the entry of construction materials. The state of hospitals is alarming, and patients are rarely given the chance to seek treatment outside. This isn’t even to mention the perpetual state of darkness we live under, with barely any electricity or clean water. It is as though displacing us was not enough; it’s as if the entire memory of Palestinian refugees must be contained and erased.

I was born in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. My parents are from the city of Ramle, in what is now known as Israel. Like most Palestinian refugees, I heard the stories from my older family members about being brutally displaced from their homes during the Nakba. No matter how many decades pass, they, like hundreds of thousands of others, are never able to forget the horrors they witnessed during their dispossession and all the violence and pain that came with it. 

A rare appearance by yours truly

I have never seen my family’s home in Ramle, and my children have never seen anything beyond the confines of Gaza and the siege. With my eldest just 7 years old and my youngest 2, they do not know a reality beyond the sound of bombs, the darkness of night with no electricity, the inability to travel freely—or the fact that these things are not normal. Nothing about life in Gaza is normal. The Nakba is not a just a memory, it is an ongoing reality. And while we can reconcile that we all must eventually die, in Gaza the tragedy is that we don’t get to live.

The last two Fridays, we stood against all the powers telling us to break and die in silence and decided to march for life.

It is in spite of this harsh reality that we endure. The last two Fridays, we stood against all the powers telling us to break and die in silence and decided to march for life. It is a protest of a people who want nothing more than to live in dignity.

A lonely Jonathan Hoffman, ex-Vice Chair of the Zionist Federation before he was booted out - he was later joined by someone else

In 2011, Palestinians marched near the borders from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank. Some were killed, others made it past the border and were arrested by Israeli soldiers. But long before then, in 1976, Palestinians protested the expropriation of their lands by Israel in what later became known as Land Day. Six Palestinians were killed then, and 42 years later Israel is still resorting to deadly violence to prevent refugees from returning, killing at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza since last Friday. Those human beings dared to dream beyond the alleyways of the refugee camps; they had a vision of a home they never had the chance to see.

I have worried for our safety as we came out in the thousands to what Israel deems a “no-go zone.” I have thought about the consequences. As I stood with my family near the Return March square in eastern Khan Younis, we were all tear-gassed, including my children. I was pained to see the innocence of childhood being tainted by such a traumatizing experience. But what many people fail to recognize is that whether we are in our homes or protesting in the fields, we are never truly safe in Gaza, nor are we truly alive. It is as though our entire existence, and dreams of ever returning home and living in dignity, must be hidden in the dark. 

However, this year, after Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the possibility of making what he called the “deal of the century,” Palestinians have felt an imminent threat to the legal right of return of refugees, despite its being enshrined in UN Resolution 194. It is a collective worry that our rights as refugees are in serious jeopardy, and we must resist it in an innovative, unified, revolutionary way—one that exists outside the parameters of negotiations and factionalism, to place pressure on Israel to reclaim our rights. 

For the past 70 years, Israel has been in a perpetual state of displacing and humiliating Palestinians. We saw it happen in 1948, and again in 1967, and now we are still witnessing it, with the growth of settlements. As Israel pushes Palestinians out, it brings in new immigrants from around the world and settles them on lands stolen from Palestinians, in violation of international law. Yet Israel continues to be emboldened by a lack of pressure from the international community, and by the support of the Trump administration, so settlements continue to expand relentlessly.

Israel would have the world believe that Palestinians willingly left our homes and chose this life of degradation, without basic human rights, and that we brought it on ourselves.

Paul Besser - (in woolly blue hat) - former Intelligence Chief of neo-Nazi Britain First

Today, the Palestinians of Gaza are attempting to break the chains that Israel has tried so hard to force us into. We are unarmed demonstrators confronting heavily armed soldiers with peaceful protest. As a result, it is difficult for Israel to smear us and justify its brutal violence, and the world is faced with the reality that innocent civilians are being killed just for exercising their right to protest peacefully. The excuses Israel uses to justify its policies toward the Palestinians are slowly losing their effectiveness, as people around the world are increasingly realizing that the true face of Israel is that of a brutal apartheid regime.

Despite the calculated violence and targeting of unarmed protesters by Israel, with our Great Return March, Palestinians in Gaza are stating loudly and clearly that we are still here. For Israel, it is our identity that is our crime, but we are celebrating the very identity that Israel tries to criminalize. People from all walks of life are joining the march. Artists are contributing with the traditional dabke dance, intellectuals are organizing reading circles, entertainers are dressing as clowns and playing with children. What has been most striking is the young, living and playing, their laughter the greatest protest of all.

The UN warned that Gaza may be uninhabitable in just two years. Resisting the fate that Israel has planned for us, we are fighting back peacefully with our bodies and our love for life, appealing to the justice that remains in the world.

Paul Besser of neo-Nazi Britain First and Gemma Sheridan (holding flag) of fascist Jewish Defence League

Jonathan Hoffman and Richard Galber

Ahmad Abu RtemahAhmad Abu Rtemah is an independent Gaza-based writer, social-media activist, and one of the organizers of the Great Return March.

PRESS STATEMENT

ISSUED BY KWARA KEKANA ON BEHALF OF BDS SOUTH AFRICA

30 year old Palestinian Photo-Journalist Shot and Killed by Israeli Snipers

07 April 2018 | 

Yesterday, Friday 6th April, Israeli snipers shot and killed 30 year old Palestinian photo journalist Yaser Murtaja (click here for news article).

Murtaja was hit despite wearing a blue flak jacket marked with the word "press", discerning him as a journalist (click here for photo, warning graphic content).

Murtaja was born in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, often described as a prison camp (where Israel controls what and who is allowed in and what and who is allowed out). It’s the worlds most densely populated piece of land (25km by 6km with over 2 million people). 

Last month Yaser posted a picture of Gaza taken by a drone and said that he hoped to one day take such a photo from the sky instead of from the ground (click here). Israel unfortunately also controls the airspace above Gaza. Murtaja never got the opportunity to take the photo or to, even once, leave Gaza.
 

Palestinian media analyst Nour Odeh has described Murtaja as "a beautiful soul and a gifted journalist [who] dedicated his short-lived career to telling his people's story, showing their pain but also their joy, & dreams. His friends and colleagues mourn him with sorrow". Our condolences go out from South Africa to the friends, family and media colleagues of Yaser Murtaja. Hamba kahle, Yaser.

In addition to Murtaja, Israeli snipers also shot 6 other journalists and killed two Palestinian teenagers Mohammed Madi and Alaa Azamli. In total Israel killed 9 unarmed Palestinians yesterday (6 April) and 30 since last week Friday (30 March). Palestinians across the political and religious spectrum have been gathering at weekly protests, dubbed the #GreatReturnMarch, which is a 6 week series of demonstrations taking place along the border of Gaza and Israel. Over 75% of the Palestinian people living in Gaza are refugees whose homes are in Israel. The UN has demanded that Israel allow the Palestinians refugees to return but Israel has refused.

BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL IN SOUTH AFRICA (BDS SOUTH AFRICA)

The Growing Opposition of Jews to What Israel does in their Name

The Largest Pro-Gaza Protest In History - 150,000

Counter Currents News          August 9, 2014 9:11 pm·

When I was around 16 and having visited Israel as part of a Zionist Federation programme aimed at school students, I ‘came out’ as an anti-Zionist.  There were a whole number of motives -  I broke away from the official tour to go to Jerusalem and I made a point of talking to the Arabs of the West Bank and refusing to be blind sided by what was, to me, obvious Israeli propaganda.

gaza 9 aug 14 demonstration

I had also become a socialist and a Marxist and I found the universalism of these secular heresies incompatible with the Judeo-centric emphasis of Zionism.  I had also become aware, I know not how, of the outlines of ‘cruel Zionism’ and how it had supported the maintenance of immigration barriers in Western countries after and even before 1945.  I listened attentively to a debate where the  Guardian’s Michael Adams (the only pro-Arab journalist then around) had debated with some Zionist flunkey.

But in a provincial Jewish community in Liverpool I felt alone.   True I had good friends at the local King David Jewish School who were lukewarm about Zionism, especially Mike Goodman who I met up again with in NUS when he was President of Brunel students union and I was  Vice-President of Brighton Polytechnic and one or two others who drifted in later years into the far-left.  But at that time there was no one Jewish  I knew who opposed Zionism who was Jewish.

That is why it is a source of much pride to see the proud and assertive Jewish bloc on the Gaza demonstration and people like Barnaby Raine.  I could only join  it at the beginning for health reasons  but thanks to groups like Jews 4 Boycotting Israeli Goods, the Jewish anti-Zionist Network and also softer groups like the Jewish Socialists Group and Jews for a Just Peace for Palestinians, more and more Jews are breaking from their parents unquestioning support for all things Israel.

The speech of Barnaby Raine, a 19 year old student from North London, to the  rally was magnificent.  It says virtually everything that needs to be said about the support too many Jews still give to Zionism, as epitomised by the despicable creatures who contacted the Jewish Chronicle to protest at their carrying a Disaster Emergency Relief advert, when even the killers themselves, the Israeli government, admit there is a humanitarian crisis. 

These pitiful ‘Jews’ who know nothing of the prophets or Rabbi Hillel, still less the history of Zionism itself, wish the Gazan people to suffer still more to repent for having voted for Hamas, a group that Israel virtually created.   They believe, in line with former Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai ‘Palestinians would bring on themselves a ‘bigger shoah," using the Hebrew word usually reserved for the Holocaust.’ 

Tony Greenstein

Mass Rally in Hyde Park

The United Kingdom’s largest demonstration for Gaza has just made history. Not only was it the biggest protest in solidarity with Gazan civilians in the UK, but it was also the largest in the world, at any time in history.

So many people turned up that when the front of the march reached Hyde Park, the back still had not left the BBC. We marched to demand an end to Israel’s barbaric assault on Gaza, to call on the British government to implement an immediate embargo on arms sales to Israel, and to show Palestinians facing Israel’s war crimes that they are not alone.

Demonstration Outside BBC

The protest took place on Saturday 9 August. Over 150,000 protestors marched from BBC Broadcasting House all the way to Hyde Park, right in front of the US Embassy along the way.

The protest was not against Jews, but against the aggression of the Israeli State against Gazan civilians. A huge number of Jewish protestors came in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Barnaby Raine, who organized the Jewish protestors’ involvement with the march explains why he was there demanding justice:

Right-wing demonstrators in Tel Aviv wore neo-Nazi shirts

As the Israeli state’s war against the people of Gaza continues, Jewish neo-Nazis come out of the woodwork, wearing the exact symbols that European neo-Nazis wear.  The reality of Israel as an occupier is influencing sections of the new generation of nationalist Israeli youth to identify with the Nazis.  This is the legacy of Zionism.

Tony Greenstein

Jewish pro-war demonstrators wear neo-nazi Good Night Left Side symbols

Above Zionists supporters of the Gaza attack wear neo-Nazi symbols, below European neo-Nazis wear the same symbols

Jewish orthodox refusenik Uriel Ferera, in his weekend off between jail sentences, here

Jon Stewart, leftist US TV star

Zionist neo-nazis threaten anti-war demonstration

Through the ages - Two women - one Jewish, one Arab hold up signs against the Israeli Law of Return

Not only did the demonstrators beat leftists, they wore 'Good night left side' T-shirts, photographs show.

Ha’aretz 15 July 2014, Ofer Aderet

Some of the right-wing protesters who beat leftist demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday night wore T-shirts bearing a neo-Nazi symbol, photos and videos show.  As shown on journalist Tal Schneider’s Hebrew-language blog, some of the right-wingers wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “Good night left side.”

Demonstration in Tel Aviv

Holocaust survivor expresses his shame at Israel's behaviour

Hebron settler who are known for their neo-Nazi views, throws wine qt elderly Palestinian woman

Neo-Nazis in Europe wear shirts with this phrase, which accompanies an image of a man attacking a left-wing activist, denoted by a star or anarchy symbol. The online store Final Resistance offers clothing bearing neo-Nazi slogans – popular attire at rock concerts by far-right bands.

The emblem and slogan are a response to the original left-wing counterpart: “Good night white pride.”

The counterdemonstrations in Tel Aviv Saturday night took place at Habima Square in the center of town. Rightists got a chance to beat leftists when a rocket alert sounded and people ran for shelter. One man was rushed to the hospital, but no arrests were made.

By Haggai Matar  +972 Magazine

Published July 13, 2014

The night it became dangerous to demonstrate in Tel Aviv

The fascists attacked. Police didn’t respond in time and ran away when the sirens wailed. We were lucky to get away with only three injured, one in the hospital and many traumatized.
(Translated from Hebrew by Michael Sappir)

Police stopping right-wing nationalists from attacking left wing activists during a protest in central Tel Aviv against the Israeli attack on Gaza, July 12, 2014. The protest ended with the nationalists attacking a small group of left-wing activists with little police interference. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

When the sirens wailed in Tel Aviv last night one thing was clear to us: the fascists in front of us were more dangerous than the rapidly approaching rockets. One by one, the police ran to bomb shelters and left us face to face. Only one brave and wise officer remained in the middle and attempted to separate us. Only when the Iron Dome rockets lit up the sky with their golden blazes and intercepted a rocket right over us did the two groups stop their shouts for a moment, mesmerized by the sight, from the boom, and then once again: “Death to Arabs!”, “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies!”

But our fear was justified. By the end of the protest (and a little after it, when they chased us through the streets) one person who had a chair broken over his head was injured and evacuated to hospital, another got punched hard in the head, and one came our with a black eye, someone else had their expensive video camera stolen, and dozens of others hit, pushed, or eggs thrown at them. Some also said that the fascists attacked them with pepper spray. And that’s how it became dangerous to demonstrate in Tel Aviv. Less so because of rockets from Gaza – more because of the fascists and the government’s incitement.

It was clear from the start that it wasn’t going to end well. We came to protest the ongoing killing in Gaza, against both sides’ firing on civilians, against the occupation and to demonstrate for peace talks. We came to say that in Gaza and Sderot children just want to live. And there were some who didn’t want us to say those things.

Left-wing activists during a protest in central Tel Aviv against the Israeli attack on Gaza, July 12, 2014. The protest ended with right-wing nationalists attacking a small group of left-wing activists with little police interference. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Hundreds of Leftists protesting in the heart of Tel Aviv during a war usually bring out many dozens of police officers in order to violently disperse the demonstration, or if not that, then to separate between the protesters and counter protesters. This time it was clear there would be counter protesters.

Yoav Eliassi (“The Shadow”) called his people (“The Lions”) to demonstrate against the Left, and people wrote ahead of time on his Facebook wall that they were coming to beat people up. There were a few police officers on the scene, and unlike the usual setup for these situations, where the two demonstrations are allowed to take place facing one another from across the street, the police allowed the fascists to stand right next to our demonstration, calling out racist slogans and wishing death to those protesting for peace and against the fighting. All attempts to encourage the police to further separate the two groups, and to call for backup, were to no avail.

It also made no difference when once in a while a fascist went around the policemen, attacked protesters and tore up signs, or when they started tossing eggs. It made no difference that fascists had attacked demonstrators before (for example: just two weeks ago at the end of the demonstration outside the Defense Ministry) and the lesson was not learned – that these are the same gangs, among them masked men who rioted in Jerusalem just a week and a half ago, attacking Arabs. On the heels of the slogans and the incitement coming from the government, Muhammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and burned to death.

The policemen did not understand all of this, or did not want to understand. After the demonstration, Eliassi wrote on Facebook that the policemen had expressed their pride and support for him and his people. Past experience with the police, especially the Yassam special anti-riot unit, this does not seem at all unreasonable (and indeed, the regular policemen in their blue uniforms seemed a bit more concerned, a bit more quickly when things escalated.)

As nine o’clock approached we began thinking about what would happen if Hamas realized their warning and fired a barrage of rockets towards Tel Aviv. What if the siren sounded, and our 500 demonstrators along with dozens of theirs had to run together into a bomb shelter? We suggested to the policemen that they could announce in advance that our demo would run one way (the stairway, for example,) and the other the other way (down to the parking lot; or vice versa.) The policemen refused. We decided to take our demonstration, march away, and leave our would-be attackers behind. But they followed us.

And then came the siren. The policemen disappeared. And the fascists attacked. They chased down people who were running to shelter, pushing them, swearing at them and sexually harassing them. With no other choice, we grouped up tightly, surrounded by a human chain, linked arm to arm. We called out all the slogans we had, to keep up morale and unity, to stay safe from fear, to cheer up in the face of the menacing, impassioned mass in front of us.

People watch as the iron dome system intercepts a missile fired from the Gaza Strip to Tel Aviv during a protest in center of the city, against the Israeli attack on Gaza, Israel, July 12, 2014. The protest ended with the nationalists attacking a small group of left-wing activists with little police interference. Three activists injured. (Photo by Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

The siren ended, the boom was heard, the policemen came back to separate us, and then another siren, again the police ran away as one, and again we were left alone, face to face, them with their curses and blows, we holding hands and pushing them back. Terrified. And the Iron Dome, a pause, an interception, slogans, and again the police came back.

We decided to march to King George Street and to disperse from there in an organized way. We asked the policemen to block the fascists, so they would not follow us. They agreed, and we started marching. At some point, someone at the café near the square, Nechama VaHetzi, shouted something to the fascists, and they stormed the café with their flags and their fists. I couldn’t see what happened. I think one of them was arrested. But we had to get away, down the boulevard, while the police delayed the rioters.

By the time we got to the corner of Ben Tsion Blvd. and King George Street, and a moment before we started dispersing, a group of thugs that flanked the police again came and attacked. We ran away and managed to take shelter for a moment in the café at the corner. Just for a moment. They stormed the café, broke cups, threw people on the ground and on tables, raised chairs and threw them at people. They broke a chair over one comrade’s head. He’s in hospital now. All of this was accompanied by swearing and sexual threats. The people working at the café were startled at first, and one of them did not want us to come in. “Go somewhere else,” she said, frightened. The others understood quickly what was going on and agreed to shelter us. They brought out water, and ice for our injured friend, shouted at the fascists not to come in.

 After a while, the policemen arrived. Still not enough of them, but enough to stop the assault for now. We were far fewer than we had been at the start, several dozen, and we set out to march together towards Allenby Street, to quietly disperse from there. Now the police really did do its job, even though just a small force of theirs was there, allowing us to get far enough away to make sure everyone was safely boarding buses or cabs together and disappearing into the night. There were two or three policemen there who really cared, really did their job, and my gratitude goes out to them.

I have been at demonstrations that were attacked in Tel Aviv before. Many times by police, a few times by fascists. One time I was saved from a raging, incited mob in the Hatikva neighborhood. There I had a bicycle, and when the police delayed them I managed to make myself scarce, quickly. This time I was on foot, with a lot of people who could not be left behind. It was really scary. Something like this has never happened here before, but it is crystal clear to me that it will again.

After a while, the policemen arrived. Still not enough of them, but enough to stop the assault for now. We were far fewer than we had been at the start, several dozen, and we set out to march together towards Allenby Street, to quietly disperse from there. Now the police really did do its job, even though just a small force of theirs was there, allowing us to get far enough away to make sure everyone was safely boarding buses or cabs together and disappearing into the night. There were two or three policemen there who really cared, really did their job, and my gratitude goes out to them.

I have been at demonstrations that were attacked in Tel Aviv before. Many times by police, a few times by fascists. One time I was saved from a raging, incited mob in the Hatikva neighborhood. There I had a bicycle, and when the police delayed them I managed to make myself scarce, quickly. This time I was on foot, with a lot of people who could not be left behind. It was really scary. Something like this has never happened here before, but it is crystal clear to me that it will again.

I have to say this clearly: it is not just these fascists, Eliassi and his people, or those carrying Lieberman’s posters and the rest of the thugs. It comes from the top. It comes from a government which serially incites against Arabs and the Left. It comes from MK Yariv Levin sitting in the Channel 10 News studio, boldly lying about the Gaza siege policy, and refusing to allow Ran Cohen from Physicians for Human Rights to talk, calling him a liar, saying Channel 10 was derelict in its duty when it allows the government to be criticized on the air – criticism which was entirely hard, dry facts. It comes from policemen, who are quite adept at attacking Left-wing demonstrations, or ultra-Orthodox ones, and of course Arab ones – but somehow stand in silence in the face of fascists marching through the streets. And it comes from a prime minister who has been silent for weeks while masses flood the streets, attacking Arabs, swearing, humiliating, a whole population group feeling threatened and isolated, with nobody to turn to.

So yes, it will happen again. We will keep demonstrating, as we demonstrated this evening also in Haifa and Jaffa and earlier in Tira and Sakhnin and other places. But we have to know this will happen again, and prepare accordingly.
***
Updated with a response from the Israel Police spokesperson:
In the evening ours yesterday a social protest took place in the Bima Square. Despite the fact that the organizers didn’t inform the police about the gathering and didn’t ask for a permit, it was decided to allow them to express their protest and many police officers arrived in order to ensure their safety and security.

During the course of the protest sirens were sounded throughout the city and the officers ordered everyone at the location to go to protected spaces.

No participants were arrested during the protest and they dispersed when it ended. Additionally, at this point no complaints have been filed.

The police spokesperson didn’t answer my question about why they didn’t call for backup when it was needed, and whether the police had noted any lessons and will operate differently in the future. Additionally, the police are lying when they say that this was an illegal protest. Israeli law does not require notifying the police of a protest as long as it doesn’t include a march or political speeches. Neither took place at the demonstration.