Rochdale residents protest at Gaza situation

Date published: 19 January 2009

Hundreds of Rochdale residents signed a petition in the town centre on Saturday (17 January), calling on the government to “Recall the British ambassador to Israel from Tel Aviv, in protest at Israel’s attacks on the people of Gaza” and to “Halt all exports of arms and related components to Israel”.

The petition was formed by Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group, who asked people to remember the hundreds of children that have been killed during Israel’s attack on Gaza over the past three weeks.

The Peace Group displayed the names of the children that have so far been identified amongst the many dead and asked passersby to sign their petition.

Peace Group spokesman Philip Gilligan said: “We collected hundreds of signatures in Rochdale and will be sending these to Gordon Brown and David Milliband, demanding that our government take some effective action to halt and prevent further aggression by Israel."

At their last meeting (14 January 2009), the Peace Group donated £100 to Medical Aid for Palestine.