About a thousand protesters converged on Hollywood on Sunday ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony to call for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered about 1 p.m. at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Avenue, a few blocks east of the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where the Oscars ceremony is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. People were already arriving on the red carpet rolled out in front of the theater.
An Israel supporter stands on the sidewalk as a protester shares views Sunday in Hollywood.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Dozens of demonstrators spilled out onto Sunset Boulevard waving Palestinian flags, completely occupying the eastbound side of the street.
“Free free Palestine!” the crowd chanted to a drumbeat as they waved dozens of posters showing a movie slate — painted in black, white, green and red, the colors of the Palestinian flag — with a message addressed to the Oscar audience: “While you’re watching, bombs are dropping.”
Demonstrators also gathered around the Hollywood exit off the nearby 101 Freeway and at the intersection of Sunset and Vine, while still others rallied on La Brea and Franklin Avenues, near the Dolby Theatre, waving signs that said “Cease-fire Now.”
“Let’s shut it down!” protesters chanted as they swarmed Sunset Boulevard. The crowd began moving westward on the boulevard led by a white van with half a dozen people on top chanting into a microphone and megaphone.
Security is tight in and around the theater. Los Angeles police bolstered patrols in the area in anticipation of protests, and ticketholders for the ceremony and after-party events must pass through three checkpoints and a number of steel barriers before approaching the red carpet.
Miguel Camnitzer, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace of Los Angeles, said he only recently joined the pro-Palestinian cause. As the grandson of Jews who fled Germany during the Holocaust, the 44-year-old said he could not stand by while Palestinians are the targeted victims of another genocide.
“I just can’t sit home today watching an awards show when a genocide is going on in the name of my people and with a previous genocide having happened to my people,” he said. “I was raised believing it’s a collective responsibility from preventing that from anyone else.”
For Sarah Jacobus, a mentor for young writers in Palestine, protesting the Israel-Hamas war is more about getting much needed food, water, and other necessities to her mentees, some of whom are in Rafah, a Palestinian city in Southern Gaza.
“They’re hanging on for dear life,” Jacobus, 72, said. “Two are in Rafah, one in a tent with his family and another in a room with about 50 people. ”She said one of her mentees needs diapers for his two-month old baby, but “what they need more than anything is freedom.”
Demonstrators have held numerous rallies and marches around the world in recent months calling for an end to the war.
Israel launched its airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages. The death toll in Gaza has since passed 30,000, with most of the casualties women and children, according to the World Health Organization.
International mediators had been working unsuccessfully for weeks to broker a pact to pause the fighting before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Sunday. Officials were hoping a deal would allow aid to reach hundreds of thousands of desperate Palestinians in northern Gaza who are under threat of famine.
Officials have been warning for months that Israel’s siege and military attacks were pushing the Palestinian territory into famine. At least 20 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration at the north’s Kamal Adwan and Shifa hospitals, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
Recent airdrops of aid by the U.S. and other countries provide far fewer aid supplies than truck deliveries, which have become rare and sometimes dangerous. UNRWA, the largest U.N. agency in Gaza, says Israeli authorities haven’t allowed it to deliver supplies to the north since Jan. 23. The World Food Organization, which had paused deliveries because of safety concerns, said the military forced its first convoy to the north in two weeks to turn back last week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
