Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold a giant Palestinian flag as they march past the Colosseum during a protest in support of the Palestinian people and against Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in Rome. Photo / Filippo Monteforte, AFP
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold a giant Palestinian flag as they march past the Colosseum during a protest in support of the Palestinian people and against Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in Rome. Photo / Filippo Monteforte, AFP
Huge numbers have turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.
Rome police said some 250,000 turned out for a fourth day of protests, after Israelintercepted the 45-strong flotilla seeking to reach Gaza earlier this week.
Some 70,000 people took to the streets in Barcelona, according to the police, while the Government in Madrid said nearly 92,000 marched in the Spanish capital.
Elsewhere, several thousand people marched through the centre of the Irish capital, Dublin, to mark what organisers said was “two years of genocide” in Gaza.
With Ireland, Spain is one of the fiercest European critics of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas militants’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
But in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Government has been criticised for its inaction on the siege of the Palestinian territory.
Thousands of people turned out at a demonstration in support of Palestine in Barcelona, Spain. Photo / Getty Images
On Saturday (local time), Meloni accused demonstrators of defacing a statue of Pope John Paul II with graffiti in front of Rome’s main train station, calling it a “shameful act”.
“They claim to take to the streets for peace, but they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace,” she said in a statement.
Protesters in the Italian capital, including families with children, shouted “We are all Palestinians”, “Free Palestine” and “Stop the genocide”, with many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing black-and-white-chequered keffiyeh.
“Usually, I don’t appreciate large-scale demonstrations, but today, I couldn’t bring myself to stay home,” Donato Colucci, a 44-year-old scout leader accompanying 150 youths from a secular association, told AFP.
“I think countries like Italy, France and Spain have developed a culture of resistance and democratic values more than others because they experienced dictatorship and violence.”
In Barcelona, Marta Carranza, a 65-year-old pensioner demonstrating with a Palestinian flag on her back, said Israel’s policy “has been wrong for many years and we have to take to the streets”.
Solidarity
The Global Sumud flotilla, which was intercepted on Wednesday (local time), left Barcelona in early September and had been seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.
About 50 Spaniards on the flotilla have been detained by Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told public television.
The flotilla organisers say Israel’s actions were “illegal” since they intercepted the vessels while they were traversing international waters.
In Paris, where some 10,000 people gathered, a spokeswoman for the French contingent of Global Sumud, Helene Coron, told the crowd: “We’ll never stop.
“This flotilla didn’t get to Gaza. But we’ll send another, then another, until Palestine and Gaza are free.”
Jordi Bas, a 40-year-old primary school teacher waving a Palestinian flag in Barcelona, said he was not surprised by the huge turnout.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators sits down in front of police officers during a protest on a Milan highway against the interception by the Israeli army of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Photo / Stefano Relladini, AFP
“People are beginning to wake up a bit,” Bas said. “The whole world is mobilising in solidarity.”
On September 14 (local time), about 100,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators forced the halt of the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling tour in the Spanish capital, where an Israeli team was competing.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be barred from international sport over the Gaza war, just as Russia was penalised over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In September, Spain said it would ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which have been described by UN rights chief Volker Turk as a war crime.
In Ireland, speakers called for sanctions on Israel and an immediate end to the conflict – and Palestinian involvement in the ceasefire plan.
In London, police said they made at least 442 arrests at a gathering in support of the proscribed Palestine Action group. United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urged protesters to stay home this weekend, after a deadly synagogue attack on Thursday (local time).
