Protests

Over the past few weeks, the Israeli – Palestinian conflict has been intensifying.  Being in Europe and not having an ocean between my home and the stories I hear about in the news has made me become a lot more interested in what is going on in the world outside of the United States.  Every morning and afternoon when I get on the tube there are free newspapers offered, and it is becoming a habit of mine to pick one up.  Far too often, across the front page are headlines about the conflict and how it always seems to be taking a turn for the worse.

Every few days, I also walk past protests.  The first one I saw involved 15,000 people, who all walked from the Prime Minister’s house to the Israeli embassy and passed right in front of my flat.  I got to watch the entire protest go by from an overlooking window.  It was very unnerving to see so many people gathered together who were all angered by the issues.  With so many people, it seemed to me like anything could happen, even though the march’s purpose was to peacefully protest.  It did remain peaceful, and reminded me about how important it is that people have this right to gather peacefully and to speak against their government if they do not agree with its policies or actions.