Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of October 7 anniversary

AFP | London, United Kingdom

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Thousands of protesters marched in London and other cities on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the oneyear mark.

At the start of a planned wave of protests worldwide, pro-Palestinian supporters gathered in cities in the UK, France, South Africa, Ireland and Switzerland to demand an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza.

Dozens of protests and commemorations are set to take place ahead of the anniversary Monday of Hamas's attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,825 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory's health ministry and described as reliable by the United Nations.

At the "National March for Palestine" in London, familiar chants -- "ceasefire now", "stop bombing hospitals, stop bombing civilians" and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" -- were joined by shouts of "hands off Lebanon".

In France, hundreds of people marched in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Strasbourg to express solidarity with the Palestinians, AFP journalists saw. Several thousand people came together in the Swiss city of Basel for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, with marchers calling for a ceasefire, economic sanctions on Israel and an end to Swiss scientific collaboration with Israel, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

Other pro-Palestinian protests were planned over the weekend and on Monday in cities including New York, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Manila, and Karachi.

Emirates bans pagers, walkietalkies onboard Dubai-based airline Emirates has banned pagers and walkie-talkies onboard its planes following sabotage attacks in Lebanon, and extended flight cancellations for Middle East destinations due to regional escalation.

“All Passengers travelling on flights to, from or via Dubai are prohibited from transporting pagers and walkie-talkies in checked or cabin baggage,” the carrier said.

In a statement posted on its website on Friday, Emirates said that “such items found in passengers’ hand luggage or checked baggage will be confiscated by Dubai Police.