Paris (AFP) – Thousands of people demonstrated again in several European cities this Saturday to support Palestinians and demand a ceasefire in Gaza, on the 43rd day of the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Israel.
First change: November 19, 2023 – 11:00 a.m. Last change: November 19, 2023 – 10:58 a.m
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Several rallies and marches were organized in London. In the north of the capital, hundreds of people demonstrated near the headquarters of the opposition leader, Labor leader Keir Starmer, who was criticized by sections of the population for refusing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Like Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Starmer has called for pauses to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered.
“We are here to put pressure on the government and Keir Starmer, as leader of the Labor Party, to put pressure on the Israeli government.” [instaurar] a ceasefire,” a protester named Aziz, who did not want to give his last name, told AFP.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in France for the third weekend in a row.
According to the CGT union, which called on the population to hold peace demonstrations, 100,000 people took to the streets in the country despite the rain, including 60,000 in Paris.
Bertrand Helibronn, president of the France Palestine Solidarité association, referred to the “indescribable suffering of the Palestinian people” and called for “an end to the bombings”, “the ground offensives” and the “lifting of the blockade” to which the Palestinian people are part of Palestinian territory subjected. .
In Portugal, thousands of people marched through downtown Lisbon behind a banner reading “Free Palestine.”
“I am here to support the Palestinian people’s right to have their own state,” to “pressure Western governments to withdraw their political, diplomatic, economic and military support for Israel,” and to demanding that the “genocide” stop,” said Rui Faustino, a 49-year-old librarian wearing a black and white keffiyeh.
Candles and minute of silence
Two afternoon demonstrations took place a few kilometers apart in Amsterdam, the Netherlands: one calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and another calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Members of the Bring Them Home Now organization wave Israeli flags as they sail through the canals of Amsterdam on November 18, 2023, demanding the release of hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas © Ramon van Flymen / Anp/AFP
The marches were “calm,” a police spokesman told the Dutch agency ANP.
In the Swiss city of Geneva, around 4,000 people marched to the European headquarters of the United Nations behind a banner reading “Stop the genocide in Gaza,” according to organizers.
Protesters lit candles and placed them on the ground, imitating the shape of the map of Gaza, displayed a giant Palestinian flag and observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims.
In Poland, hundreds of people demonstrated in central Warsaw and gathered in front of the Israeli embassy without incident.
A march also took place in Istanbul, with a hundred people lighting torches in front of the Israeli embassy, whose staff left Turkey last month for security reasons.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked by the attack carried out by commandos of the Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, which, according to Israeli authorities, claimed 1,200 lives (mostly civilians).
In response, Israel launched a bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip that has already killed 12,300 people, mostly civilians, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.
© 2023 AFP