Young pro-Palestine protesters overtake the Mission, decrying the Nakba

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On Saturday afternoon, 16th and Valencia streets steadily began to fill with hundreds of young people excitedly talking among themselves and passing one another handmade signs, pamphlets, even a paper newspaper, commemorating the Nakba, the violent displacement of Palestinians in 1948. 

“Do you need a sign?” asked a young woman to an empty-handed man leaning against a wall. Readily, he grabbed a sign and a pamphlet and began reading. 

By 2:30 p.m., the block had closed, and young protesters in neon jackets began redirecting traffic as two young men clad in keffiyehs hopped onto the back of a truck, their make-do stage. 

By this time, a couple hundred protesters had taken over the street, their voices reverberating off the walls of the Valencia Street corridor as people went about their Saturdays, buying coffee and walking their dogs. 

The protest took place two days after “Nakba Day” on May 15, which commemorates the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and villages upon the founding of the state of Israel, in 1948. Nakba means “catastrophe” in Arabic.

The Trump administration has deported multiple student immigrants who have been involved in organizing to protest Israel’s occupation and bombing of Palestine, notably Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian Columbia University student who is currently facing deportation.

Last month, the visas of four students and recent graduates at San Francisco State University were terminated. That did not deter this group of protestors on Saturday, many of whom were young, students, and immigrants. 

Suzanne Ali, a Palestinian recent graduate and a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, an organization of young Arabs and Palestinians advocating for the liberation of Palestine, said they picked the Mission for a reason: It is an immigrant neighborhood. 

“Our movement has only grown stronger,” said Ali. “We’re stronger when we’re together. The demographic that has shown up to these protests have remained the same.” 

Flocking toward the back of the truck, protestors chanted in unison along with the two men. Then, at their cue, the truck revved and turned down 16th Street as organizers in bright neon vests ran ahead with a fleet of traffic-enforcement officers to clear cars from their route. 

Hundreds of protestors marched behind the truck through the 16th Street Plaza and down Mission Street as onlookers pulled out their phones to record the scene. Some honked their horns and chanted along, while a handful of others screamed profanities in their direction, or stuck their heads out of their windows, watching as the Nakba demonstrators marched down the street. Some continued to eat their lunch. 

At the conclusion of their promenade, they landed in Dolores Park, encouraging park-goers, lounging in the sun, to join them. Some did, and took papers from keffiyeh-clad young people running up the hills to approach groups of friends and families. 

Against the blare of music played on speakers in Dolores Park, and as a man pushing an ice cream cart made his way through the crowd, the protestors concluded their march with a final round of speeches, including from students at SFSU, who had just concluded a hunger strike protesting Israel’s aid blockade.

“This generation is disillusioned with our government,” shouted a young protester atop the truck to the slightly smaller mass that had made their way to the park with them. “The only way to achieve liberation is together.”