Rallies held worldwide calling for immediate ceasefire and end to Israel’s ‘flagrant injustice’

AFP | Paris

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Tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world over the weekend calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon ahead of today’s first anniversary of the Hamas’ deadly storming of southern Israel which sparked the war in Gaza.

In Washington, a man set himself on fire as more than 1,000 people demonstrated outside the White House demanding an end to US military aid to Israel, AFP journalists said.

In Morocco yesterday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Rabat, waving Palestinian flags and calling to break off diplomatic ties with Israel, which the kingdom normalised in 2020.

“Resistance does not die” and “The people want an end to normalisation”, they chanted outside parliament. “We consider Palestine to be a national cause,” Khadija Mokhtari, a 56-year-old retiree taking part in the protest, told AFP.

She attended to protest the “flagrant injustice, Israeli killings and the genocide” against Palestinians, she added.

March

Thousands also marched in support of Gaza and Lebanon in cities across Turkey, including Isanbul and Ankara.

In Ramallah, in the West Bank yesterday, protesters carried a banner showing photos of Palestinian journalists slain while covering the conflict.

In Saturday’s Washington protest, a man set his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police extinguished the flames.

Thousands also marched through New York’s Times Square on Saturday, some carrying pictures of people killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Clashes broke out at a pro-Palestinian protest in Rome that drew thousands on Saturday.

Dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

At least one policeman was injured and two protesters detained, AFP journalists said.

In Berlin, just over 1,000 protesters joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday, many wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional scarf symbolising the Palestinian struggle against Israel.