The day before Hapoel Holon will host the Champions League match against Rio Brogan in the city of Lugo (Wednesday, 21:00), demonstrations and slogans against holding the game began in the city. The organization behind these demonstrations is "Logo for Palestine."
The organization's statement read: "We expect the central government and the country's counting authorities, as well as FIBA, to promote a ban on Israeli teams from participating in their enterprise, we remind you that FIBA took less than a week to suspend the Russian teams last year."
"In addition, we fear that the arrival of Hapoel Holon will undermine coexistence in a city as completely peaceful as a logo," the organization wrote, adding: "Moreover, we protest that the resources and money allocated to the police operation to secure the game will be deprived of public money. And we are afraid that we will see again the sights we saw at the Euroleague meeting between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Valencia, where no less than 700 police officers were deployed and the Udhim underwent unreasonable checks."
Hapoel Holon players wearing shirts for the abductees, photo: FIBA
Another claim by the organization is against the gestures made by the Purples in last week's victory on behalf of the abductees and in memory of the murdered: "In this context, there is no escape from the fact that the presence of the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Holon in the logo goes beyond the strictly sporting realm. Even more so, after the propaganda use made by the team in the first game against Rio Brogan in the Latvian capital, with the television cameras as a loudspeaker. Throughout the broadcast, the stands were decorated with a huge flag of the State of Israel, in whose places were distributed photographs of people held by Hamas since October 7. In addition, the players wore protest shirts and you could see the team's fans with Israeli flags in the stands, even though it was, theoretically, a closed-door game."
"It's legitimate for Hapoel Holon's technical staff and players to demand the return of their country home, but it's really not legitimate for them to do so while exploiting a basketball game against a foreign team, in the role of the only casualties, when its country's occupation army commits genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank, which at the time of the game had already murdered 4,600 boys and girls in just one month." The organization concluded its statement by saying: "We argue that if these events are repeated in the logo, the name of a city traditionally committed to peace and against war will be tarnished, and severely they will take place in a public pavilion, the property of a public institution. And therefore, belongs to any logo company. For this reason, we demand to ensure the realization of constitutional rights and freedoms, and to allow those who so wish to protest peacefully. In fact, many legal experts and social organizations have already expressed concern about the restrictions on freedom of expression and demonstration rights that are taking place because of this issue throughout the country."
#Baloncesto 🏀 Lugo por Palestina critica el Breogán-Hapoel Holon
👉 La plataforma censura la presencia de equipos israelĂes en competiciones internacionales y recuerda que en mes y medio han muerto tantos niños palestinos como el aforo del Pazo https://t.co/UiPJhyP2pd
— El Progreso de Lugo (@elprogreso_Lugo) November 21, 2023
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