The organiser of a series of silent protests in Diss against Israel’s incursion into Gaza has said she is hopeful that their message is getting across.
Jane Jennifer, who is secretary of the Diss branch of Amnesty International, said the Saturday events, which start at the Market Place and head down to the Mere, have really struck a chord with the public.
The protesters are demanding an end to hostilities, which erupted on October 7 when a group of heavily-armed Hamas fighters stormed the Israeli border, killing 1,300 people, including many women and children.
Ms Jennifer, from Roydon, who started the protest in the town on Christmas Eve, said: “I could not go into Christmas without doing something. It felt quite inappropriate to celebrate the festive season without making some sort of public stance, so I put out calls on December 22.
“It was the highest attended one so far and we used it to mark the number of journalists that were killed at that time, which was 73, and we read their names out.”
Since then, the peaceful marches have attracted more and more attention.
“We come together to share the horror of the ongoing atrocities that are going on; to let it be seen that protests against what is happening is not just in London and in the big cities, but here in Diss as well,” she said.
“It gives an opportunity to anyone who wants to do something, rather than sitting at home, feeling helpless about the atrocities that are being carried out on a daily basis.
“We are getting more comments from passers by, and more people are reading our placards.
“People are taking more notice of us as we walk down Mere Street, so I’m confident that our message is getting across to more people.”
The protests now average between 20 and 25 people every Saturday and Ms Jennifer said the numbers were steadily increasing.
She added: “I think that rise is down to disbelief ... that here we are around six months later and we are still waiting for this situation to be resolved.
“What the people who attend want is an immediate and permanent ceasefire, not a humanitarian pause. We would very much like our Government to stop supporting the atrocities that are going on.”
The show of solidarity has been endorsed by Amnesty International after Ms Jennifer put it to the town’s steering group in January.
“It aligns with the group’s campaign to end Israel’s apartheid, so we have their backing as we continue to push for an end to the war.
“As more and more people join us, our hope is that the message gets through to the Government to take more meaningful action.
“For now, we feel there is a need for us to be out there and we will carry on doing that.”
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, and tens of thousands injured by Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Following a temporary truce in late November, Israel forces have since extended ground operations into southern Gaza in a bid to reach top Hamas commanders.
The UN and aid agencies say Gaza is suffering severe shortages of food and other essentials.
Anyone wishing to join the weekly protests in Diss should meet in the Market Place at 10am on a Saturday.
