150 march in Center City to protest the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, and the Gaza conflict

Michelle Myers, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 28, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — Chanting “no war in Iran,” about 150 demonstrators marched from City Hall to Rittenhouse Square on a steamy Saturday afternoon to protest U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and call for an end to the Gaza conflict.

Fay Fitzgerald, with Montgomery County for Palestine, among the multiple organizing groups, said the protest was about “rejecting American imperialism in all its forms,” not just the recent U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear plants.

In the news release announcing the demonstration, the groups said they were calling for the United States “to stop its financial and military support for Israel. We deplore the trillion dollar military budget paid for with cuts in education, healthcare, housing, transportation and SNAP food assistance.”

The protest originally was scheduled for Monday but was postponed because of the heat; but as it turned out, while it wasn’t quite as hot, the atmosphere saved plenty of heat and humidity for the protesters.

Sunned and sweaty, the crowd chanted “Money for jobs and educations, not war and occupation,” as some cars honked in support.

At one point the crowd took over the intersection of 15th and Market Streets marching to Rittenhouse Square as police tried to direct traffic around them.

Along the way, a couple of short scuffles with Israel supporters broke out, but police quickly intervened.

As the protesters were dispersing, a group of protesters desecrated a U.S. flag, attempting to set it aflame.

For Kelcy Andricks, it was “an amazing symbolism of how the global majority feels about the United States.”

Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein and Joel Fishbein were walking by Rittenhouse Square when the crowd caught their attention.

Ezekiel-Fishbein said she sympathizes with the people of Gaza, but as the daughter of Holocaust survivors, she also felt heartbroken by the crowd’s anti-Israel chants.

“The people of Gaza are victims as are the people of Israel,” Ezekiel-Fishbein said.

“Wouldn’t it be better to find common cause against the things that are actually oppressing us here in America?” said Fishbein.