Activists planned a demonstration advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza and in support of Palestinians near the Harry Bridges Plaza and San Francisco Ferry Building on Saturday, scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

The protest, which drew a crowd of thousands of people, marched along Market Street towards the freeway. A group of protesters continued to shut down traffic on the Central Freeway in downtown San Francisco for about 90 minutes around 4 p.m., as KNTV reported

The rally follows concerns about the recent developments in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli attacks have intensified amid a widespread communications disruption, as KRON4 reports. On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on a 120-14 vote calling for a "humanitarian truce," but the U.S. and Israel voted against it, according to the AP.

Israel has said that it’s approaching “the next stage of its war with Hamas” as it has expanded its ground operations in Gaza this week, according to CNN. The toll of the conflict is staggering, with over 7,000 Gazans reported killed, including more than 3,000 children, and over 1.4 million displaced. International human rights groups have raised the alarm about the potential of even more mass atrocities.

This new action follows several protests (and counter-protests) in the Bay Area this month. On Tuesday night, Richmond City Council passed a resolution “affirming Richmond's support and solidarity” for Gaza and Palestine, after a charged public comment session lasted almost five hours. More than a thousand UC Berkeley students demonstrated on campus on Wednesday to show support for Gaza as well, per KPIX. Last week, protesters blocked entrances to the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco in a move to raise attention and convince Pelosi to back a congressional resolution for a ceasefire, per SFGATE. High school students across the Bay organized several walkouts earlier this month to also demand a ceasefire and to protest against Israeli military action against Gazan civilians, per Axios Local. And one rally earlier this month outside the Israeli consulate in SF drew hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators and a smaller group of pro-Israel counter-protestors who allegedly threw eggs at the crowd.

Polls show that more than 65% of voters across all political affiliations are urging a ceasefire in Gaza, according to KRON, and the public outcry is continuing to grow as President Biden's approval rating dropped this month.

RELATED: Richmond City Council Spends Seven Hours Debating, Passing Resolution Supporting Gaza and Palestine

Feature image via Holly Secon.

We feel that Senator Obama’s surname is a boon for stenciling sloganeers, who are no doubt tired of the limited range of genital puns offered by the name of our current President. The astonishing combinability of “Obama” has only just begun to be explored--the already-tired “Obamarama” is just the beginning.

Yet this enigmatic stencil offers more than just a mellifluous neologism: it points to Red-State nightmare, a spectre haunting the heartland. The ten stenciled letters spell out an astonishing political message: it is actually impossible to tell where OBAMA ends and MARXISM begins.

As a scientific test of this ghastly/wonderful assertion (depending on your political position), we've reproduced here the actual words of Barack Obama and Karl Marx. Can you tell the difference?

Mystery Quotation #1:

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise--that American promise--and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Mystery Quotation #2:

It is clear that the arm of criticism cannot replace the criticism of arms. Material force can only be overthrown by material force but theory itself becomes a material force when it has been seized by the masses. Theory is capable of seizing the masses when it demonstrates , and it demonstrates ad hominem as soon as it becomes radical. To become radical is to grasp things by the root. But for man the root is man himself.

Which is which? After the jump.

Photo by Adam Polakoff