Picket in Cape Town against US war on Iran

Prof Usuf Chikte from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign addresses the protesters. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks

More than 100 people gathered opposite the United States Consulate in Cape Town on Friday morning to protest the US-Iran war.

The protest was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

Civil society organisations, including South African Jews for a Free Palestine and Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine-South Africa, also took part.

Several political parties joined, including the ANC, EFF, MK, Al Jama-ah and GOOD.

Placards read “Boycott Apartheid Israel”. Picketers chanted “US, US, you can’t hide, you are funding genocide” and “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli apartheid is going to fall”.

Attendees waved Palestinian, Iranian, Venezuelan, Cuban and Lebanese flags.

Some people held placards and wore T-shirts bearing a picture of Iran’s former leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was assassinated on 28 February at the start of the war.

Thousands of people have been killed since the war with Iran began.

On Monday, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, minutes before US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. But the status of the ceasefire is in doubt as the Strait remains effectively closed and hostilities have continued.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have escalated in recent days. According to the World Food Programme, more than one million people have been displaced across Lebanon. Hundreds of people have been killed in the past 48 hours.

“We are calling for a ceasefire in all these areas. We can’t keep quiet while innocent people are dying on a daily basis. This is a war against humanity,” said Malvern De Bruyn, Provincial Secretary at Cosatu.

He called on the South African government to close the Israeli embassy.

The PSC’s coordinator, Professor Usuf Chikte, told those who had gathered that they were there to stand up against imperialism.

In a statement released ahead of the picket, the PSC condemned the US and Israel’s “illegal, unprovoked war” on Iran.

“It is a campaign of military aggression causing civilian deaths, destruction, and regional instability, while undermining Iranian sovereignty to reassert the control of US imperialism and Zionism over energy, trade routes and finance. This forms part of a broader pattern of imperialist and Zionist intervention across West Asia, which imperils world peace,” they said.

Their demands included UN-imposed sanctions, boycotts, and a full arms embargo on Israel, the dismantling of US military bases worldwide and the democratic transformation of UN structures to end imperial dominance.

One of the placards held up by protesters.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast