{"id":34982,"date":"2026-08-09T19:11:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34982"},"modified":"2026-08-09T19:11:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T14:11:07","slug":"protest-at-locarno-remembers-60000-killed-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=34982","title":{"rendered":"Protest at Locarno Remembers 60,000 Killed in Gaza\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLocarno became the latest film festival to see protests at the continuing situation in <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/gaza\/\" id=\"auto-tag_gaza\" data-tag=\"gaza\">Gaza<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/palestine\/\" id=\"auto-tag_palestine\" data-tag=\"palestine\">Palestine<\/a>\u2018s Occupied Territories. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhile music from the Campari Lounge boomed into the evening, approximately 100 demonstrators unwound a shroud bearing the names of 60,000 people who have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war two and a half years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOne of the organizers, Dr. Michele Ghielmini from Swiss Healthcare Workers Against Genocide, told <em>Variety<\/em> that the protestors were not aligned to any political party and were not attempting to disrupt the festival. The location and time of the protest had been agreed with the festival organizers and the police.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-large alignnone \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:1024px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?w=1024\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg 3024w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=150,100 150w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=1920,1280 1920w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=1360,907 1360w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=1000,667 1000w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=910,607 910w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=681,454 681w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=450,300 450w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image0.jpeg?resize=250,167 250w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"683\" width=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey u-font-family-neue-xxs\">Credit: John Bleasdale<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe banner containing the 60,000 names had previously been displayed in Amsterdam and in front of the Swiss Parliament in Bern. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGhielmini said: \u201cThe festival is an opportunity because a lot of people are here, a lot of people from all over the world, but also importantly, a lot of people from Switzerland. Not all people of Switzerland have been sensitive in the same way to these actions of the Swiss government, and in particular, the German part of Switzerland was less sensitive. The Italian and French-speaking parts were more sensitive to it, and because of the film festival, there are more people from the German part of Switzerland here. Also, more press from the German part of Switzerland, and because of that, we thought it would be a good moment again to call attention to what has happened and to what is still happening in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAccording to literature the protestors distributed, they are calling on the Swiss government to pressure <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/israel\/\" id=\"auto-tag_israel\" data-tag=\"israel\">Israel<\/a> to open the borders of Gaza to relief organizations and the media, as well as to allow for injured civilians of Gaza to receive medical treatment in Switzerland. They also demand that the Swiss government impose sanctions if the Israelis continue to violate the Geneva convention.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe festival has been relatively untouched by the kind of political controversy which dogged the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. There are films in competition from Palestinian filmmakers, such as Mohanad Yaqubi\u2019s feature-length documentary \u201cRevolutionaries Never Die,\u201d in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present) competition, and Palestinian-Jordanian director Asmahan Bkerat\u2019s debut feature \u201cConcrete Land\u201d in the Semaine de la Critique section. Israeli producers are participating in some industry events.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThe festival was informed in advance that a protest was being planned,\u201d fest organizers told <em>Variety<\/em>. \u201cAs with any peaceful demonstration, we respect people\u2019s right to free speech and to express their views, provided it takes place safely and without disrupting other attendees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOver 8,000 attendees crammed into the Grand Piazza an hour after the protest had peacefully concluded for a sold-out screening of <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/olivia-wilde\/\" id=\"auto-tag_olivia-wilde\" data-tag=\"olivia-wilde\">Olivia Wilde<\/a>\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/the-invite\/\" id=\"auto-tag_the-invite\" data-tag=\"the-invite\">The Invite<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Locarno became the latest film festival to see protests at the continuing situation in Gaza and Palestine\u2018s Occupied Territories. While music from the Campari Lounge boomed into the evening, approximately 100 demonstrators unwound a shroud bearing the names of 60,000 people who have been killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war two and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image2.jpeg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}