A demonstration in support of the Palestine Action Group continues in London, the police had requested to postpone the demonstration after the attack on a Jewish synagogue in Manchester
Daily Dawn, Staff reporters, representatives, Dawn TV report
London: A demonstration in support of the Palestine Action Group is also continuing in London, although the police had requested to postpone the demonstration after the attack on a Jewish synagogue in Manchester. More than 70,000 people participated in a demonstration in favor of the Palestinian people in Barcelona, and the police arrested more than 175 protesters in London, reports
Thousands of people are demonstrating against Israeli atrocities in major cities of Europe, with large-scale rallies being held in major urban centers of the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Demonstrations in other major cities of Spain, Barcelona and Madrid, were scheduled several weeks ago.
The protests in Rome and Lisbon came after Israeli forces intercepted the Global Solidarity flotilla carrying aid to Gaza and arrested more than 450 workers on board.
More than 40 Spaniards were among those arrested, including the former mayor of Barcelona.
In Italy, more than two million people nationwide demonstrated solidarity with the people of Gaza during a one-day general strike on October 3.
Spain has seen a significant increase in support for the Palestinians in recent weeks, while the Spanish government has also stepped up diplomatic efforts against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Last month, protests against the presence of an Israeli-owned cycling team in Spain led to the cancellation of the Vuelta cycling event several times, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for a ban on all Israeli teams from international sports, describing Israeli atrocities in Gaza as “genocide.”
The call for protests in Europe came after Hamas decided to accept some points of a peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, in order to end the two-year war, in which more than 66,000 people have been killed and Gaza has been devastated.
Barcelona Town Hall said that police estimated that 70,000 people took part in today’s demonstration.
Barcelona’s main avenue, Passeig de Gracia, was packed with people, with large numbers of families, women, children and the elderly taking part, with demonstrators waving Palestinian flags or wearing T-shirts in support of Palestine.
The banners they held read: “Gaza hurts me”, “Stop the genocide” and “Don’t stop the flotilla”.
Maria Jesus Para, 63, arrived in Barcelona after an hour’s drive from her city, carrying a Palestinian flag. She said she wanted the European Union to take action against the atrocities she sees in the news every day.
He said, “How is it possible that we are witnessing a genocide directly before our eyes, while Europe itself saw it all in the 1940s, no one can now say that they did not know what was happening.”
Arrests in London
A protest is also underway in Rome, organized by three Palestinian organizations together with local unions and students. The demonstrators will start the march from Porta San Paolo to San Giovanni. According to the state broadcaster ‘Rai’, police said that thousands of people are expected to participate in the demonstration.
A demonstration in support of the Palestine Action Group is also underway in London, although police had requested that the demonstration be postponed after the attack on a Jewish synagogue in Manchester, which killed two people in the northwestern city.
Police arrested at least 175 people at a large protest in central London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, with officers forcibly removing protesters while sit-ins scrawled pro-Palestine action slogans on their posters, while others chanted “shame on the police.”
Organizers had rejected requests from police and the government to cancel the demonstration after the attack on the synagogue, which had already been scheduled to protest the ban on the Palestine Action Group under counter-terrorism laws.
DUBLIN
Thousands of people also took to the streets in the Irish capital Dublin to protest the second anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza, and to demand that the Irish government impose sanctions on Israel, local media reported.
The protests came after Israel detained 16 Irish citizens, along with hundreds of others, after intercepting the Global Solidarity flotilla.
Similarly, a protest is also underway in Athens, the capital of Greece, on the afternoon of October 4.
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