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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: September 12, 2006 |
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About 200 demonstrators marched through Venezuela's capital on Monday to protest what they called "imperialist terrorism" by the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago.
The marchers -- many of them supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and some of Arab descent -- carried Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian flags, along with signs calling for peace in the Middle East and opposing what they called "Zionist aggression" by Israel in Lebanon and Palestinian areas. Many criticized the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Islam Abed El Rohman, a 15-year-old of Palestinian descent, said she was worried by the low turnout at the protest, saying few appeared concerned by the plight of Palestinians and Lebanese in the Middle East.
"We want them to hear our voice, for people to support us. We want peace," she said. "We are basically Palestinian refugees. My grandfather came (to Venezuela) after 1948, when the problems with confiscated land began."
Chavez, whose government launched a nationwide fundraising drive for rebuilding Lebanon and for the Palestinian people, has blamed the United States and Israel for recent violence in the Middle East. The Venezuelan president said on Aug. 3 that he was withdrawing his country's top diplomat in Israel to protest its attacks in Lebanon and its actions toward the Palestinians.
Israel, which responded by calling home its ambassador, has criticized what it calls Chavez's "one-sided policy" and "wild slurs."
Some protesters said Washington has used the so-called war on terror as an excuse to violate human rights and attack its enemies for political reasons.
"Today, as the criminal attack in New York is remembered, I think it's also valid to denounce the fact that George W. Bush is taking advantage of his people's pain to invade and attack other countries, without caring about killing thousands of innocent men, women and children," said Liliana Garcia, a 46-year-old housewife among the protesters.
Some demonstrators also held Chilean flags to mark that country's Sept. 11, 1973, coup in which Gen. Augusto Pinochet toppled the elected president, Salvador Allende. They accused the U.S. government of playing a key role in the overthrow of the leftist Allende. |
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