Thousands rally in Europe in support of Gaza

LONDON/STOCKHOLM

Thousands of people in European countries held rallies and marches Saturday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, demanding an end to Israeli attacks on the enclave.

In the Swedish capital, Stockholm, demonstrators gathered in Odenplan Square to protest Israel’s onslaught against Gaza and the West Bank and its targeting of journalists.

Carrying Palestinian flags, the crowd also held up photos of Al Jazeera staff killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Wearing black clothes, the protesters carried symbolic coffins to commemorate the journalists.

Last week, Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qraiqea were killed along with three camera operators with the network and a freelance reporter in an Israeli strike that targeted a journalists' tent near Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The attack brought the number of journalists killed by Israel in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 to 238, it said.

In Ireland’s capital, Dublin, thousands of health care workers held a march to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in solidarity with their colleagues in the besieged enclave.

The doctors, nurses, and allied health care workers marched from the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) on Stephen's Green on a loop which included Grafton Street and Drury Street, Irish broadcaster RTE reported.

Waving Palestinian flags, they also carried signs showing photos of health care workers killed in Gaza as they walked silently to a single drumbeat.

In the Scottish city of Glasgow, people took to the streets from Glasgow Green to the city center in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan was among the protesters, seen holding a sign that said "Peace for Palestine now."

"The atrocities must end! We must stand up and raise our voices against a genocide unfolding before our eyes. War crimes cannot be committed with impunity," she said in a post on the US social media company Instagram.

Meanwhile, 13 protesters were arrested by police in Norwich in eastern England during a rally in support of Palestine Action, a banned group.

Photos showed protesters holding signs saying "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action."

Last Saturday, more than 500 people were detained in London, with the vast majority accused of carrying placards or signs allegedly supporting the group.

Another protest took place in Buckinghamshire, England, where thousands of people surrounded the Royal Air Force (RAF) High Wycombe base, demanding that the UK end its "military collaboration with Israel's genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.

"Shame on the British government for allowing these flights to continue! Stop arming Israel now," the Palestine Solidarity Campaign wrote on the US social media company X’s platform.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal war in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, killing at least 61,900 Palestinians.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.