As the streets of Ferguson filled with tear gas and heavily-armed SWAT teams moved in, some protesters said Ferguson feels like the war-torn Gaza Strip. Some chanted "Gaza Strip" as they faced the lines of police, L.A. Times reporter Matt Pearce wrote on Twitter. "We are being occupied,” one commented to the Daily Beast. “Will we as a people rise up like the people of Gaza?"
Cops warn the crowd. The photog's gas mask comes out. Someone is chanting "Gaza Strip." #Ferguson http://t.co/IWJkOg8oy4
— Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 13, 2014Palestinians in Gaza -- where fighting between militants and the Israeli army is on pause after weeks of violence left more than 1,900 dead -- and around the world have expressed their solidarity with the protesters in Ferguson.
Revolution of #Ferguson, can't be prouder of these people who won't let their son's blood goes for nothing #MikeBrown
— Inas Safadi (@InassSafadi) August 14, 2014Where I come from, what some call "rioting" we call an uprising #Ferguson #Gaza #Palestine #intifada
— gazawia (@gazawia) August 14, 2014Hamde Abu tells #Ferguson that #Palestine knows what it means to be shot for your ethnicity pic.twitter.com/56aKRQHZnI
— Rana Nazzal (@zaytouni_rana) August 14, 2014Some people even offered advice to the Ferguson protesters on how to deal with tear gas inhalation, and other riot control methods.
Don't Keep much distance from the Police, if you're close to them they can't tear Gas. To #Ferguson from #Palestine
— Rajai abuKhalilرجائي (@Rajaiabukhalil) August 14, 2014Always make sure to run against the wind /to keep calm when you're teargassed, the pain will pass, don't rub your eyes! #Ferguson Solidarity
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) August 14, 2014@MariamBarghouti And of course DON'T wash your eyes with water
— Rajai abuKhalilرجائي (@Rajaiabukhalil) August 14, 2014Some took the advice as confirmation that Ferguson is akin to an international war zone. "You know things are out of control in Ferguson, MO, when people in Gaza are tweeting advice on how to cope," wrote one Twitter user.
However, others urged caution about any comparisons between the police violence in Missouri and the devastating war in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians tweeting advice referred to the response of Israeli military and police forces to protests in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, not airstrikes in Gaza. Others noted that issues of police force, accountability and race in Ferguson are part of America's own troubled history.
To clear things up, I'm not in #Gaza. I'm in the West Bank. Gaza gets more than teargas, they get flat neighborhoods.
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) August 14, 2014Not a big fan of comparing #Gaza to #Ferguson. It's much more accurate to compare #Ferguson, to, well, every city throughout US history
— Alex Kane (@alexbkane) August 14, 2014i don't think anyone is trying to compare #Ferguson to #Gaza. the point is solidarity and justice.
— kimberly dawn (@hiitskim) August 14, 2014