Gaza Prompts St. Pete Rally

As Israeli ground troops began moving into Gaza, protesters took to the streets Saturday night in front of the downtown entertainment and shopping center BayWalk, denouncing the attacks.

The St. Petersburg actions constituted the second large-scale protest in the Tampa Bay area since the Israeli airstrikes began eight days ago. Saturday night, about 120 people - many Palestinian-American - stood on the BayWalk sidewalk on Second Avenue North between First and Second streets North, speaking out against the Israeli attacks.

Many carried signs with messages such as "Gaza is today's Warsaw Ghetto," "Stop the Genocide. Free Gaza," and "The real terrorists: Israel & the USA."

This followed a protest Tuesday afternoon in Tampa where about 400 demonstrators, many Palestinian-American and most waving Palestinian and American flags and carrying homemade signs, gathered at the busy intersection at West Spruce Street and North Dale Mabry Highway.

In the crowd Saturday, 14-year-old Raisa Salhav of Palm Harbor stood holding a Palestinian flag with her family nearby. The teen was born outside Jerusalem and visits with her family every couple of years.

"We call it Palestine," she said. "It's in our hearts."

She said she has seen violence firsthand, including two years ago when she was traveling to a hospital in Jerusalem and gunfire erupted at an Israeli Defense Forces checkpoint.

"We seriously got scared. We started hiding in the car," Raisa said.

Her family wasn't injured, but she has been near tears reading the headlines and watching the video out of Israel. She and her two siblings urged her parents to take them to the protest Saturday night.

"How would you feel if you saw your own people murdered for no reason?" she asked.

On the other side of the street stood about 15 Israel supporters holding signs reading: "You're either with Israel or terrorists" and "Stop rocket attacks from Gaza."

"Even during the cease-fire Hamas is throwing rockets into Israel," said Alan Kornman, executive director of the Central Florida United American Committee, a group he said is educating the public about threats against the United States. "Israel has a right to defend itself."

The protests Saturday lasted about an hour and concluded as the group marched out of the area as one about 8:30 p.m. St. Petersburg police Lt. Dennis Bolender said no arrests had been made.

"Everyone's behaved," he said.