(London) In London, Paris, Caracas, Washington and even in Cape Town, tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday and Sunday their support for the Palestinians in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, almost a year after the killings of 7- October and the start of Israel’s devastating war of retaliation against Hamas.
In Washington, a man, posing as a journalist, attempted to set himself on fire, AFP journalists noted, while more than a thousand angry demonstrators gathered in front of the White House, many demanding the end of American military aid to its strategic ally Israel.
Passers-by and police managed to put out the flames by dousing him with water and using keffiyehs, traditional Palestinian scarves, and the police clarified that his “injuries were not life-threatening”.
In New York, thousands of people marched in the famous Times Square district, some carrying photos of people killed by the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, now devastated territory.
“As Americans, we are tired of our tax dollars going to Israel to bomb children in Palestine and then Lebanon,” said New Yorker Daniel Perez.
In Sydney on Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Hyde Park, waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags. “Stop arming Israel,” read one sign.
On Saturday morning, a procession of several thousand demonstrators set off in central London, with former Labor leader Jérémy Corbyn (now independent) and former Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf in the lead.
PHOTO JUSTIN TALLIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take part in a march in London on October 5.
“Free, free Palestine” or “Stop bombing hospitals”, chanted the demonstrators, who marched peacefully.
“How many more innocent Palestinians or Lebanese must die? », asked a demonstrator, Sophia Thomson, 27 years old.
26 arrests in Berlin
The unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip. A demonstration in their honor is to be held on Sunday in London.
During the offensive carried out in response by Israel, at least 41,825 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
In Lebanon, where Hezbollah opened a front in support of Hamas, more than 2,000 people have been killed since October 2023, according to the authorities.
In Dublin, several hundred people demonstrated shouting “freedom and justice for the Palestinians”.
In Berlin, a pro-Palestinian demonstration brought together more than 1,000 people and another pro-Israeli demonstration brought together around 650, according to police.
Outside the procession of this last demonstration, 26 people who had addressed the demonstrators were arrested, according to the same source.
“Far too late”
In Rome, clashes broke out between pro-Palestinian young people and the police, with bottle throwing, firecrackers, tear gas and the use of water cannons, after a demonstration bringing together thousands of people.
PHOTO YARA NARDI, REUTERS
Protesters throw objects during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Rome on October 5.
“Italy must stop selling and sending weapons to Israel”, “Free Palestine” and “Israel a criminal state”, the demonstrators shouted.
In France, several thousand people marched in Paris and several other cities to mark their “solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people” and ask the French government to act more.
In Paris, under a radiant sun, 5,000 demonstrators, according to the police, marched shouting “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”. At the head of the procession, several political figures from the radical left, notably the leader of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out on Saturday in favor of stopping deliveries to Israel of weapons used in Gaza.
But for Mohammed Ghili, 52, member of the Palestine Solidarity association, if “it’s good news, it comes much too late” in the face of what he calls “genocide”.
In the crowd, Maya, 37, a Franco-Lebanese physics researcher who arrived from Beirut a week ago, said she was “stunned by the media treatment” of the escalation in Lebanon. “We don’t hear about the bombing of civilians.”
“Iran, strike Tel Aviv”
In Basel, Switzerland, thousands of people gathered at the call of the Swiss-Palestine Federation and around a hundred organizations.
In Madrid, 5,000 people, according to the authorities, demonstrated, brandishing “Boycott Israel” or “Humanity is dead in Gaza” signs.
The demonstrators called on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who in recent months has increased his critical positions towards Israel, to break diplomatic relations with this country.
In Venezuela, hundreds of supporters of Nicolás Maduro’s government and members of the Arab community gathered in front of the UN headquarters in Caracas.
Carrying a 25-meter-long Palestinian flag and shouting “Long live free Palestine” or “Iran, Iran, strike Tel Aviv,” the Chavistas delivered a document to the UN calling for an end to the “genocide” of the Palestinian people and “concrete actions” against Israel.
In South Africa, in central Cape Town, hundreds of people marched, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans.
Waving signs accusing Israel of genocide and racism, the demonstrators – many of whom wore keffiyehs, the symbol of the Palestinian struggle against Israel – headed towards Parliament.
“Israel is a racist state” and “We are all Palestinians,” protesters chanted.
Some have expressed support for South Africa’s complaint to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Pretoria maintains that the Israeli offensive in Gaza violates the 1948 UN convention on genocide.
Many South Africans compare Israel’s stance toward the Palestinians to apartheid, the segregationist regime imposed by the country’s white minority until the country’s first multiracial elections in 1994.