Pro-Palestinian protesters rally in cities
LONDON — Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through a rainy London on Saturday to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza, and similar calls were heard in cities around the world as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week.
On the day a trickle of aid entered Gaza, where more than 1 million people have left their homes because of the conflict, protesters gathered in at Marble Arch near London’s Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall.
Police estimated the crowd that wound its way through the city for three hours at “up to 100,000.”
Waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Stop bombing Gaza,” participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.
British authorities urged demonstrators to be mindful of the pain and anxiety felt by the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared with last year.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered in Belfast and in Northern Ireland’s second city, Londonderry. Across the border in the Republic of Ireland, thousands marched through the capital, Dublin, calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment.
In France, pro-Palestinians demonstrators gathered in several cities including Paris, Rennes, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, where thousands of people could be seen chanting “we all are Palestinians” in the central square. German police said almost 7,000 people took part in a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration in Düsseldorf on Saturday. Demonstrators also took to the streets in Rome, Berlin, Muslim-majority Kosovo, Sydney, Iraq, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, South Africa and Manhattan.