By OLEG CETINIC (Related Press)
PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanding a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza marched in Paris, Berlin and different European cities on Saturday.
The marches mirrored rising disquiet in Europe concerning the mounting civilian casualty toll and affected by the Israel-Hamas battle, notably in nations with massive Muslim populations, together with France.
The Palestinian demise toll within the Israel-Hamas battle has reached 9,448, in accordance with the Hamas-run Well being Ministry in Gaza. In Israel, greater than 1,400 individuals have been killed, most of them within the Oct. 7 Hamas assault that began the battle.
At a Paris rally that drew a number of thousand protesters, demonstrators referred to as for a right away cease-fire in Gaza and a few shouted “Israel, murderer!” In central London, streets had been blocked by protesters chanting, “Stop-fire now” and “I consider that we’ll win.”
Banners on a sound-system truck on the Paris march via rain-dampened streets learn: “Cease the bloodbath in Gaza.” Demonstrators, many carrying Palestinian flags, chanted “Palestine will stay, Palestine will win.”
Some demonstrators additionally took goal at French President Emmanuel Macron, chanting “Macron, confederate.”
Paris’ police chief approved the march from République to Nation, two massive plazas in jap Paris, however vowed that any habits deemed antisemitic or sympathetic to terrorism wouldn’t be tolerated.
A number of nations in Europe have reported rising antisemitic assaults and incidents since Oct. 7. In a brand new assault Saturday, an assailant knocked on the door of a Jewish lady within the French metropolis of Lyon and, when she opened, stated “Hiya” earlier than stabbing her twice within the abdomen, in accordance with the girl’s lawyer, Stéphane Drai, who spoke to broadcaster BFM. He stated police additionally discovered a swastika on the girl’s door. The girl was being handled in a hospital and her life was not at risk, the lawyer stated.
In Berlin, round 1,000 cops had been deployed to make sure order after earlier pro-Palestinian protests turned violent. German information company dpa reported that about 6,000 protesters marched via the middle of the German capital. Police banned any form of public or written statements which might be antisemitic, anti-Israeli or glorify violence or terror. A number of thousand protesters additionally marched via the west German metropolis of Duesseldorf.
On the London rally, with tons of of protesters, the Metropolitan Police stated its officers made 11 arrests, together with one on a terrorism cost for displaying a placard that would incite hatred. The police power had forewarned that it will additionally monitor social media and use facial recognition to identify legal habits.
On Friday, two ladies who attended a pro-Palestinian march three weeks in the past had been charged underneath the U.Ok.’s Terrorism Act for displaying photos on their clothes of paragliders. In its Oct. 7 shock assault on Israel, Hamas employed paragliders to get some fighters throughout the border between Gaza and southern Israel. Prosecutors stated the photographs aroused suspicion they had been supporters of Hamas, which U.Ok. authorities regard as a terrorist group.
In Romania’s capital, tons of gathered in central Bucharest, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Save the youngsters from Gaza.”
At a rally by a number of thousand individuals in Milan, Matteo Salvini, a deputy prime minister, spoke out in opposition to antisemitism, calling it “a most cancers, a virulent plague, one thing disgusting,’’
In one other a part of Milan, a pro-Palestinian rally drew about 4,000 individuals and there was additionally a march by a number of thousand in Rome. Yara Abushab, a 22-year-old medical pupil from Gaza College, who has been in Italy since Oct. 1, was among the many contributors and described Oct. 7 as a watershed for her.
“They bombed my college, my hospital. I misplaced loads of family members and proper now the final time I heard one thing from my household was every week in the past,” she stated. “The state of affairs is indescribable.”
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Related Press writers John Leicester in Le Pecq, France; Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania; Brian Melley in London, Frances D’Emilio and Silvia Stellacci in Rome, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
