Gazans hold vigil for murdered US students

Scores of Palestinians in Gaza yesterday protested against the killing of two Palestinians and a Syrian in North Carolina, US, on Tuesday.

Demonstrators stood outside the United Nations’ office in Gaza City holding banners which read: “Do you know why they were killed? The answer is: They were Muslims” and “Where is the United Nations when racist crimes are committed?”.

Saed Al-Hatom, a representative of the Islamic Bloc who organised the vigil, called on the US authorities to punish the perpetrator of “this terrorist crime and work to prevent racial escalation against Muslims”.

He demanded international human rights institutions bear their responsibilities and take immediate action to stop what he called the serious systematic crimes against Palestinian and Muslim rights.

He also called on the global student unions “to go out to clarify their position on what happened and not remain silence about the murder”.

Al-Hatom appealed to Palestinian embassies and communities “around the world to provide protection for Palestinian students abroad”.

On Tuesday, 23-year-old Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were shot dead in their home in North Carolina. A 46-year-old man, named by police as Craig Stephen Hicks, has been arrested on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder.

There was a significant social media outrage at the lack of coverage from the mainstream media in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

Images by MEMO Photographer Mohammed Asad.