Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in London and other cities on Saturday to demand that Israel halt its offensive in Gaza, as the war between Israel and Hamas entered its third week following the terror group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 and its effects spread around the world.
On the day the first aid trucks rolled into Gaza, where more than a million people have left their homes due to the conflict, protesters gathered in the rain at Marble Arch near London’s Hyde Park before heading to the government district of Whitehall marched.
Police estimated the crowd snaking through central London at “up to 100,000”.
Participants waved Palestinian flags and called for an end to the Israeli blockade and airstrikes on the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave, which were launched after Hamas’ devastating attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,400 Israelis.
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Israel has long said its blockade of Gaza is necessary to prevent Hamas from freely arming itself for war and attacks. In response to the brutal massacre, the airstrikes are targeting all areas where Hamas operates and are aimed at minimizing civilian casualties. After the terrorist group’s murderous rampage in southern Israel, their goal is to destroy the country.
The war has raised tensions around the world and both Jewish and Muslim communities feel threatened. British Transport Police said they were investigating after footage appeared online that appeared to show a London Underground driver shouting “Free, free Palestine” to passengers over the subway intercom.
British authorities have urged protesters to be aware of the pain and fear of the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police Force said it recorded a 13-fold increase in reports of anti-Semitic crimes in October compared to the previous year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled.
Police said there were “still riots and some incidents of hate speech” during the protests, but “the majority of protest activity was lawful and occurred without incident.”
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered in Belfast and Northern Ireland’s second-largest city, Londonderry, where speakers included MP Colum Eastwood of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labor Party.
“The murder of children is wrong,” he told the crowd, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict. “I don’t know how it can be so hard for some of our world leaders to actually say it. It doesn’t matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian children.”
Across the border with the Republic of Ireland, thousands marched through the capital Dublin and demanded an end to the Israeli bombing.
In France, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in several cities including Rennes, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, where thousands of people chanted “We are all Palestinians” in the central square.
Protesters hold flags and shout slogans at a pro-Palestinian rally in Rome on October 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
In Marseille, the country’s second-largest city, some people took to the streets waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Liberate Gaza” despite the protest being banned by local police.
A pro-Palestinian rally planned for Sunday in Paris has been approved by police.
Police in Berlin have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration planned for Sunday in the city center, the German news agency dpa reported. Police in the German capital have stopped several similar events in recent weeks, citing the potential for violence and anti-Semitic hate speech. Some pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets anyway, leading to clashes with police.
Authorities allowed a pro-Israel demonstration in central Berlin on Sunday that was expected to be attended by thousands of people.
Elsewhere on Saturday, several hundred people marched through Rome, some holding signs that read “Palestine, Rome is with you” and “No peace until we have freedom.”
In Australia on Saturday, thousands marched through central Sydney chanting “Shame, shame, Israel” and “Palestine will never die.”
A protester holds a placard during a pro-Palestinian rally amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in London on October 21, 2023. (AP Photo/David Cliff)
The war broke out on October 7, when 2,500 terrorists breached the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip in a multi-pronged, devastating attack. At least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and terrorists took about 210 hostages of all ages.
About 1,000 of those killed were civilians, entire families were slaughtered in their homes and over 260 people were massacred at an open-air festival, many amid horrific terrorist brutality in what U.S. President Joe Biden called “the worst massacre in the world.” “Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
According to Israel, around 1,500 Hamas terrorists were killed in clashes before the IDF regained control of the attacked area.
In response, Israel launched an offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said more than 4,300 Palestinians were killed in the attacks. The figures collected by the terror group cannot be independently confirmed and are believed to include its own terrorists and gunmen, as well as victims of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City on October 17, caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket fired at Israel by Hamas has blamed Israel. Israel has provided evidence showing that the explosion was caused by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip that was insufficiently effective. The United States confirmed the Israeli account, citing its own data.
A small relief for the Gaza Strip came on Saturday when 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the southern Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
The war sparked protests across the Arab world and beyond on Friday, including in the West Bank, where Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at military checkpoints. The Israeli security forces responded with tear gas and live fire.
Crowds gathered in neighboring Lebanon to the north; in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in cities and towns across Egypt; in the Turkish capital Ankara and its most populous city Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and South Africa.
Demonstrators chant slogans near the Israeli embassy in Amman on October 20, 2023. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)
In New York, hundreds of protesters from Muslim, Jewish and other groups marched to U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand’s office in Manhattan, many chanting “ceasefire now.” Police later arrested dozens of protesters who sat in the street and blocked Third Avenue in front of Gillibrand’s office.
In Mexico City on Friday evening, dozens gathered outside the Israeli embassy, lighting candles and chanting “Free Palestine.”
Leaflets with pictures and personal information of some of the hostages kidnapped by the Hamas terror group in Israel on October 7 hang on the empty chairs of a table set for Shabbat outside the synagogue in Rome, October 20, 2023. AP Photo/ Gianfranco Stara)
Pro-Israel demonstrations and vigils also took place around the world, many of which focused on the return of hostages held by Hamas.
Rome’s Jewish community remembered the hostages held by Hamas on Friday by setting up a long Shabbat table for them outside the capital’s main synagogue and providing empty chairs for each of the hostages.
On the back of each chair was a flyer with the name, age and photos of each missing person. On the table were candles, wine and loaves of challah, the braided bread typically eaten during Friday night dinner.