Video: simple roadside Gaza protest in Hastings goes viral, sparks copycats

A simple but unusual roadside protest in the Sussex town of Hastings has gone viral, attracting millions views worldwide and sparking similar actions in towns and cities across Europe. The series of ‘drive-by’ placards on the side of the A21 spelled out a powerful message of the appalling cost of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – one that resounded around the world:

It read:

In the Last Year
Israel has killed
16,000 children in Gaza.

There are 16,00 children
In Hastings. Imagine
This town
With no children.

Stand up

Speak out

Stop the genocide.

The one minute video, filmed from a passing car and set to the track ‘Where do the children play?’ by seventies folk musician Cat Stevens – now known as Yusuf Islam – was picked up and shared on all the major social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, prompting thousands of comments on the moving post and praising the humanity of those who will not stand by as children are slaughtered.

Since it was first shared on 9 November the same action has been replicated in Wales, Ireland, Oslo and in towns and cities like Hitchin and Ealing. 

One X account alone, in the name of Rania, had over 1.6 million views and hundreds of comments. The video was also shared on the Instagram account of political analyst Yousef Alhelou, attracting more than 87,000 ‘likes’ and many more shares and comments like this one from ‘cloudy.redhead’:

Thank you Hastings. Great action. Tears are running over my face.

The views across different platforms number in the millions.

In fact, the Hastings campaigners understated the devastation caused by Israel’s thirteen-month assault on Gaza, which has so far killed around 200,000 people, around half of them children. Israel continues to bomb and shell defenceless Palestinians and is currently engaged in a starvation campaign against more than 400,000 others in northern Gaza, while allowing barely a trickle of aid to another 1.6 million in the rest of the territory.

The action, staged by the Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was designed by member Phil Colley. Colley said:

I was brought up on images from WW2 and taught that such a genocide mustn’t happen again. But it is happening again, just as the International Court of Justice said… as did UN experts and genocide scholars.

Today, Gaza has been turned into a modern-day extermination camp, our government is actively involved and yet no one is sounding the alarm. Journalists that do speak out are now being harassed and arrested under draconian anti-Terrorism laws. It is shameful beyond belief. But we the people must not stay silent or, because it’s just too awful, pretend it is somehow not happening. We must stand up and speak out and demand action from our representatives. I’m so proud that in Hastings we are doing exactly that.’

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