Saturday 21 / December / 2024
Gaza: Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel rallies were held in several cities globally on Sunday on the eve of the anniversary of the October 7 attacks on southern Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas.
The Hamas teattacks killed 1,200 Israelis and 250 people were taken hostage. Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has so far killed over 41,000 people, according to the Health Ministry.
Sunday's events followed demonstrations on Saturday in several European cities, including London, Berlin, Paris and Rome. Other events are scheduled throughout the week, including several on Monday.
Huge crowd in Morocco in support of Palestinian cause
Tens of thousands of people joined a rally through Morocco's capital, Rabat, in support of Palestinians and against the country's normalisation of ties with Israel.
The protest was organised by the National Action Group for Palestine, a collection of leftist groups and the Islamist Justice and Development Party.
Protesters held Palestinian flags and banners as they moved toward the parliament building.
They denounced the kingdom's decision in 2020 to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel as part of the US-led Abraham Accords and called on authorities to sever those ties.
Many participants chanted phrases including "Resistance does not die" and "The people want an end to normalisation."
The government in the North African country has called for "the immediate, complete and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza."
Rabat has not publicly discussed reversing normalisation.
Around 3,500 people marched in the Kreuzberg neighborhood earlier Sunday in solidarity with Palestinians in Berlin, police said.
Demonstrators chanted "Gaza you are not alone" and carried signs that read "Nothing justifies genocide" and "Free Gaza."
A police spokeswoman said the start of the protest was "very turbulent," but added that later the situation was "by and large civilized."
The demonstration concluded in the nearby district of Neukölln, where police said the situation intensified again to the point it had to disperse the crowd.
"Participants tried to break through barriers and attacked our officers at scale, among other things with bottles and stones," police said online. "As a result, the demonstration was broken up at its closing location in Neukölln."
In Australia, thousands of people on Sunday protested in support of Palestinians and Lebanon in several cities including Sydney, while a pro-Israeli rally also took place in Melbourne.
