Palestinian flag flown at Golden Gate Bridge amid demand for cease-fire
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Faith leaders held a symbolic walk across the Golden Gate Bridge on Wednesday to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Before marching, leaders left behind a small mountain of children's shoes to represent the more than 7,000 children killed in Gaza, leaders from a number of different faiths put their differences aside Wednesday morning for one common goal.
"We don't want to lose sight of the fact that our humanity is at stake when we stand by complicit seeing the unconditional and unabated murder of these children," Afraz Khan, an Imam at the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, said.
That's why several hundred faith leaders locked arms and marched from both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk to meet in the middle -- an homage to the late Martin Luther King Jr. and Congressman John Lewis, who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, facing brutal attacks by state troopers in the fight against racial injustice.
"That march was an interfaith community coming together to demand that," Rev. Allison Tanner, a Pastor at the Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, said. "We are likewise, coming together to demand that the human rights of Palestinians be honored and especially in this moment, when genocide is taking place."
Reverend Allison Tanner is a Pastor at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland. She says it's more important now than ever before that faith leaders get involved.
"We also want to send a very loud message to the politicians and the people in power both in the United States and internationally, that people of faith are watching what's happening, people of faith are outraged by what's happening, and people of faith are demanding a ceasefire now," Tanner said.
Protesters stayed to the sidewalks to not disrupt bridge traffic, although banners and a Palestinian flag posted were quickly taken down, they say, they plan to continue until a permanent cease-fire is called.
"I'm blessed to be surrounded by a variety of other faith and spiritual traditions where they too see that in the midst of the grieving, we will not stop taking action until a ceasefire is called," Khan said.
An organizer of the march says only one person was arrested for climbing a flagpole to hang a Palestinian flag, which was up for about 30 to 45 minutes.
VIDEO: Dozens of protesters arrested after abandoning cars, blocking westbound Bay Bridge, CHP says
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