Thousands of people came out on Saturday in Berlin in a demonstration of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, victims of bombings carried out by Israel after a bloody attack by Hamas on October 7, according to AFP. In Paris, demonstrators are chanting “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”, and in London traffic has been blocked in the Oxford Circus area.

Berlin

“We estimate the number of demonstrators at around 3,500, but more are arriving,” a police spokeswoman in the German capital told AFP.

The atmosphere at the beginning of the rally was calm. Many came with their families and children. The posters read “Save Gaza,” “Stop the Genocide” and “Cease Fire,” AFP reporters observed.

The participants, many wearing kufis, headscarves worn by Palestinian activists, gathered in the famous Alexanderplatz in central Berlin, chanting “Free Palestine”.

Numerous Palestinian flags with three black, white and green stripes and a red triangle waved above the crowd.

The demonstration, organized by several pro-Palestinian associations, took place under the slogan “Defend fundamental democratic rights: freedom of expression for Palestinians too.”

Organizers said they expected around 2,000 participants, but police estimated there could be at least 10,000 and deployed around 1,400 officers to monitor the march, which is expected to end around 18:00 GMT in Potsdamer Platz.

German police warning

Police also issued strict conditions, warning that any “denying Israel’s right to exist through anti-Semitic statements, incitement to hatred, apologia for violence or terrorism” is “punishable” and will be prosecuted.

Several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Gaza, which have killed nearly 9,500, mostly civilians, in the past month, according to the Islamist movement Hamas, have subsided in Germany in recent weeks, with sometimes violent clashes between police and demonstrators.

Police said they feared new tensions at the demonstration following Thursday’s official ban on activities linked to Hamas and the Samidoun association in Germany, whose members are accused of celebrating in the streets the Islamist movement’s attack on Israelis, soldiers with more than 1,400 dead, most of them are civilians.

German Interior Minister Nancy Pfizer has come under fire from the conservative opposition for what she says is a delay in implementing the ban announced two weeks ago by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Paris

Several thousand protesters demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took part in a pro-Palestinian march through the streets of Paris on Saturday, some chanting “Israel, the killer”.

Demonstrators also attack French President Emmanuel Macron, chanting “Macron, accomplice”. Some carry placards reading “Immediate Cease Fire,” a rallying cry that was also repeatedly chanted by the crowd. A truck with an audio system in the center of the march carried banners reading “Stop the massacre in Gaza.”

Demonstrators also chanted “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”, many of them carrying Palestinian flags.

The route planned by the demonstrators runs between two large squares in the east of Paris, the Republic and the Nation. Paris’ police chief authorized the march but promised that any behavior deemed anti-Semitic or sympathetic to terrorism would not be tolerated by the police mobilized to maintain order.

London

Metropolitan police banned protesters from gathering outside the Israeli embassy in London as another weekend of mass anti-Israel demonstrations began in the British capital amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Police say some of the protesters blocked traffic on Oxford Circus before being cleared by police. [Sursa: News.ro]

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