CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 12 October)—Residents marched through former bombed-out streets in Marawi City on Tuesday calling for the Israeli armed forces to stop the airstrikes on Gaza.
Marawi City residents show flags of Palestine on Tuesday (10 October 2023) before heading out to the streets for a protest march and rally. Photo courtesy of Drieza Lininding
Video clips posted by Marawi civic leader Drieza Lininding on Facebook showed around 100 residents shouting “Palestine is Free” as they carried Palestinian flags in a protest march in downtown Marawi.
Speaker after speaker condemned the attack during the rally in Barangay Poblacion.
“When we saw the TV news footage of Israeli planes bombing Gaza City, it brought back memories of Marawi City being bombed during the 2017 siege,” Lininding said.
He added that they assailed the Israeli government for desecrating the Al-Aqsa compound, a revered mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
Lininding said they likened the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque to the 2017 entry of former President Rodrigo Duterte and soldiers to the Grand Mosque, also a revered Muslim site in Marawi City, during the five-month siege.
“We can feel the anger of the Palestine people over the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque and how they suffer as the bombs destroyed their houses,” Lininding said.
Al Jazeera, The New Arab, and other Middle East news agencies reported that a few days before the terror attacks on Israeli settlements, Jewish settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound, angering residents of Gaza City.
In Cagayan de Oro City, Balay Mindanaw, an NGO, called for a de-escalation of the conflict and urged world leaders to provide a venue and platforms from which the conflicting parties can dialogue.
“A humanitarian crisis is looming as casualties from both sides continue to mount every day,” Balay Mindanaw director Charlito Manlupig said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the targeting of civilians could spiral the violence and hatred in Gaza and Israel.
“The recent violence is at a level we have not seen in many years and has a potential to escalate dramatically, causing even more pain and anguish on both sides,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement.
Spoljaric said it is a worrying sign that only a few voices of de-escalation have been heard amid the premeditated killings of civilians and the bombings of residential neighborhoods. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
