ORLANDO, Fla. — In Orlando Friday, hundreds of Palestinians and those in support shut down the streets calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
"Free Palestine, Free Palestine," the cheers could be heard Friday afternoon.
The rally in Orlando is the first of three rallies statewide. Two in Miami and Tampa are scheduled for Saturday. It coincides with the National March for Gaza rally happening in D.C.
The Florida Palestine Network also mobilized buses for the march leaving Orlando, Miami and Tampa Friday.
"50% of Gaza's population are children," said Rasha Mubarak, organizer for the Florida Palestine Network. "So when we see the murder and the massacre and the genocide of the Palestinian people, these are children, these are women, these are people that have been calling for an end of their oppression for 75 years."
Mubarak said the Palestinian supporters at the rally are calling on all lawmakers, local, state and federal to call for a ceasefire. It's something Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost, a democrat from Orlando, supported Friday, co-sposoring the Ceasefire Now Resolution.
"The loss of Palestinian & Israeli civilian life has been unbearable. An immediate ceasefire is needed to save lives and to establish a humanitarian corridor so that aid can get into Gaza and hostages can be safely released," Frost wrote on X.
"The world was outraged the media was outraged when 40 fake babies were beheaded, but thousands of Palestinians babies are being murdered and this experience of the Palestinian flight for freedom is being debated," Mubarak said.
