BER LIN/ PARIS/Tehran: Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters take to the streets of Berlin waving flags and demanding an end to Israeli strikes on Gaza amid the ongoing war triggered by the Hamas terror group’s deadly October 7 onslaught. German news agency dpa reports that about 6,000 protesters marched through Berlin’s center after calls from Arab and German leftist organizations to join the demonstration today. “Save Gaza,” “Stop genocide” and “Ceasefire” were emblazoned on marchers’ placards, according to AFP journalists.
Around 1,000 police officers are on duty to prevent possible clashes after several previous pro-Palestinian protests in Berlin turned violent in the past four weeks. Police have banned any kind of public or written statements that are antisemitic, anti- Israeli or glorify violence or terror. Several thousand protesters also march through the western Germany city of Duesseldorf in support of Palestinians and against Israel.
German police have said they feared tensions at the demonstration in Berlin following the ban on activities linked to Hamas and the Samidoun association, whose members are accused of celebrating the attack on Israel.
PARIS — Several thousand protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza are taking part in a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel march through the rain-dampened streets of Paris, with some shouting “Israel, assassin.” Demonstrators are also taking aim at French President Emmanuel Macron, chanting “Macron, accomplice.” Some carry placards that read “Immediate ceasefire,” a cry also chanted repeatedly by the crowd. Banners on a sound-system truck at the center of the march read “Stop the massacre in Gaza.”
Demonstrators are also chanting “Palestine will live, Palestine will win,” with many carrying Palestinian flags. At a rally held in Washington by supporters of the Palestinians, demonstrators chant in favor of an “intifada” against Israel as it fights against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
In a call and response, a woman can be heard saying into a microphone “Long live the intifada,” to which the crowd responds, “Intifada, intifada, intifada.”
Thousands of Iranians gather on the streets to mark the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” while condemning Washington’s support of Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza. The rally — which was called for by the state — came as the Israel- Hamas war entered its fourth week. About 1,400 people in Israel were killed, most of the civilians, and over 240 taken hostage after Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7.__The Nation
