Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across the world for a weekend of demonstrations demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine demonstrations took place on Saturday in various cities including Washington, DC; London; Paris; Berlin; Milan and Dhaka. In Turkey, a convoy of Palestine supporters headed to a US military base in the south of the country for a protest to coincide with US Secretary of State Antony Blinke‘s arrival to the country on Sunday.
United Kingdom
Large crowds held sit-down protests in London blocking Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus before marching to and gathering in Trafalgar Square.
Protesters held “Freedom for Palestine” placards and chanted “ceasefire now” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians”.
London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that around 30,000 attended the rally. Police said they had made 11 arrests, including one for displaying a placard that could incite hate, contrary to terrorism legislation.
Earlier, some demonstrators had also gathered outside the BBC headquarters in London in protest at the network’s coverage of the war, which they called “biased”.
Echoing Washington’s stance, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, and instead advocated humanitarian pauses to allow aid into Gaza.
Germany
In Berlin, about 6,500 people gathered at midday for a demonstration that police said was taking place under strict conditions. Germany had previously banned Palestine solidarity rallies.
France
It was one of the first, big gatherings in support of Palestinians to be legally allowed in Paris since the war began.
“We came here today to show the people of France’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and our support for peace, for a peace solution with two states, an Israeli state and a Palestinian state,” said Antoine Guerreiro, a 30-year-old civil servant.
Wahid Barek, a 66-year-old retiree, lamented the deaths of both Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
“I deplore civilian deaths on both sides. Civilians have nothing to do with these actions. It really is shameful,” he said.
Senegal
In the Senegalese capital, Dakar, people gathered outside the central mosque with placards and Palestinian flags.
“This protest was supposed to take place last week, but it was banned,” Al Jazeera’s Nicholas Haque reported from Dakar.
“There are many Senegalese people, but also the Lebanese Senegalese community has also come out in numbers to show their support.”
