Cape Town - Less than a dozen pro-Palestine picketers stood behind a row of small shoes outside Parliament's main gates shortly before 1pm on Monday.
The shoes were intended to serve as a reminder that more than 1000 Palestinians, many of them children, had been killed to date in the conflict raging in Gaza between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants.
The picket was organised by the Cape Town-based “Action Forum in Support of Palestine”.
Forum organiser Shaheed Mahomed said the group would stage a daily picket from Tuesday this week on Cape Town's Grand Parade.
In a statement, he said such pickets - from 4pm to 7pm each day - would be kept up “until the South African government expels the Israeli ambassador”.
The forum also called on government to recall the South African ambassador to Israel immediately, cut all trade and military ties with that country, and issue warrants for the arrest of all local citizens serving in the Israeli Defence Force.
The picket comes as the United Nations Security Council calls for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
More than 1000 Palestinians and over 40 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting that has been raging across the Gaza Strip for the past three weeks.
The picketers held up posters on Monday calling for “One Palestine, No Bantustan” and proclaiming “This is no War”.
Sapa