Hastings Friends of Al Mawasi had a sponsored walk along the seafront a week or two back, and had a bit of bother from some of those people who don’t understand why we defend Palestine (it’s because settler-colonialism is a particularly violent form of illegal occupation and in Palestine, it’s escalated to genocide.)

So, to make it absolutely clear that they aren’t going to be put off, they organised another walk for today, Sunday 10th August and a good bunch of Hastings and Bexhill people came on the walk or stood on the route in support. It’s great to see so many people demonstrating that we’re not going to let bullies have their way. It’s also a great way to raise money for all the things so desperately needed to help the people of Gaza to survive.

We gathered at the Stade Hall in Hastings Old Town.

It was a perfect, sunny Sunday for a stroll along the prom.

Some had flags and placards, some had some impressive, home-made Palestine tee-shirts, some picked up badges along the way.

Here we are at the pier…

Heading along St Leonards front…

At Warrior Square…

More people joined the walk along the way, and yet more stood along the route cheering, waving flags or banging pots in support…

We stopped for a break in Marina Gardens, and visited Hastings’ famous statue of Edith Swan-Neck trying to strangle King Harold.

Here we are on the railway path towards Glyne Gap…

Oooh – a cafe!

(Google reckons that walk should have taken an hour and 3/4. We managed to take three hours but there you go – it was a sunny Sunday.)

Heading off up Galley Hill

Nearly at the top!

We did it! We’re in Bexhill!

It was great to see the walk growing as we went, and all the people along Bexhill front who gave us a cheer and when we got to De La Warr, a really great reception committee.

That was fun – when are we doing it again?

Please feel free to copy the photos from this article and please drop in a donation to the Friends of Al Mawasi — there’s a Pay Pal link on their Facebook event page here.