By the fifth day of her hunger strike against the war in Palestine, Lena Mussa has turned frighteningly pale.
Her camp outside Sheffield Town Hall is well-tended, made from a double tent bundled with warm blankets and surrounded by camping chairs. An art exhibit made to look like rows of children's funeral shrouds and rubble is laid out on the pavement.
Her camp outside Sheffield Town Hall is well-tended, made from a double tent bundled with warm blankets and surrounded by camping chairs. An art exhibit made to look like rows of children's funeral shrouds and rubble is laid out on the pavement.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Street noise]
00:08 It's been five straight days now, yourself on a hunger strike and otherwise out here night and day.
00:14 What's the sentiment you've had when people have come up and spoken to you?
00:17 What do you feel people feel about this protest?
00:20 I think people feel angry, not about this protest, about the silence of the government and the MPs.
00:27 People feel angry because they feel like powerless.
00:30 They feel angry and they wish they can do something to help about Gaza.
00:36 This is how I got from the public, from everyone who passed by, nearly like 99% of the people were just saying.
00:44 They were in tears, crying and felt like powerless.
00:49 So my feeling, I think I was overwhelmed. We were overwhelmed with all the good messages, very warm messages we received from everyone.
01:02 We were angry, we are still angry about the silence of the world, the silence of our government, the silence of people in power who can help Gaza and who can help the Palestinians for ceasefire and they didn't do.
01:18 They should leave this.
01:20 What do you think about while you're out here? You've been out here night and day essentially.
01:25 What is on your mind as you do this?
01:28 It's a message, it's a protest. It's a message of solidarity. It's a message of standing with Gaza, standing with Palestine.
01:36 I'm telling everyone that what is going on in Gaza right now is genocide.
01:41 Genocide. They are killing the Palestinians, killing civilians, unarmed civilians.
01:46 Children and women and elderly.
01:49 I think I want Gaza and the news about Gaza to be always in the front and always in the mind of people.
01:57 Every time people pass and see what is the camp about, it brings it up again and again.
02:03 Because Gaza issues or Palestinian issues will not die, it will not be forgotten.
02:09 I want to send a message to everyone, hear or read.
02:14 I want everyone to go on and write emails to their MPs.
02:18 I want them to write emails to their local councillors and to the lead council.
02:23 I want them to write emails for United Nations, Human Rights, for everyone.
02:30 If they can expose them in X, the X which is now used to call Twitter.
02:37 If they can go to there, we can get our message through.
02:40 The more we send, the more they know that we are angry and it's not in our name.
02:45 We are accepting this genocide. We are human beings and we can't split our souls.
02:52 All human beings should be together.
02:54 If we are silent now about Gaza, God knows who will be silent about next.
02:59 You're part of the support network and the rota that's been down here in the camp each day.
03:04 What's the extent of that and what does it include?
03:07 There's about 150 of us who signed up for this rota.
03:10 We're signing up for four-hour slots around the clock.
03:14 Today I'm on the 12th till 4.
03:17 The first one I was on was 4 till 8am.
03:22 Day to day, what does that include? What are the responsibilities?
03:25 There's usually about three of us on with a lead support and two or three others.
03:33 We're here essentially to protect Lena and Sahar who are here 24/7.
03:42 To field any questions. People may come up to engage people.
03:48 A lot of people are very moved by this.
03:52 People are standing there and welcome some conversation about what's going on.
04:00 Have there been musicians, craft groups, dancers?
04:03 We've had all sorts of visits from different groups.
04:07 Trade union groups, support groups, all came.
04:13 Lots of different groups have come to support.
04:16 We've had different bands, different musicians.
04:21 We've had people doing wonderful chalk drawings on the ground.
04:28 Just generally contributing what they can.
04:32 Photo time!
04:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]