In support of Gaza and Lebanon, thousands of people march from France to South Africa

INTERNATIONAL – The Palestinian flag brandished across the globe. In Paris, London, Rome and even Cape Town, thousands of people took to the streets this Saturday, October 5, in support of Gaza for the first anniversary of the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Slogans calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel is striking the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, were also shouted.

“How many innocent people still have to die?” »

At the end of the morning, in London, brandishing signs and Palestinian and Lebanese flags, several thousand demonstrators rushed into the center of the British capital. At the head of the procession in particular, the former Labor leader Jérémy Corbyn (now independent) and the former Scottish Prime Minister, Humza Yousaf.

“Stop the bombings”, « Free, free Palestine » or even “Stop bombing hospitals” were among the most popular slogans chanted in London.

“There needs to be a ceasefire now. How many more innocent Palestinians or Lebanese must die? »asked Sophia Thomson, 27, who was demonstrating with friends. “The fact that there are so many of us shows that the government does not speak on behalf of the people”she added.

A demonstration in memory of the approximately 1,205 people killed during the unprecedented Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 is also due to be held on Sunday in London.

In Paris, LFI is present in the ranks

In Dublin, the Irish capital, several hundred people demonstrated their support for the Gazans with cries of “freedom and justice for the Palestinians”noted AFP.

In France, several hundred people marched in Paris and large cities such as Lyon, Toulouse and Strasbourg to mark their “solidarity with the Palestinians and Lebanese”noted AFP journalists.

In Paris, the demonstrators rallied from the Place de la République to that of Clichy, to cries of “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”. At the head of the procession, several political figures from the radical left, notably the representatives of La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Manon Aubry.

In the crowd, Maya, 37, a French-Lebanese physics researcher who arrived from Beirut a week ago says to herself “stunned by the media treatment” of escalation in Lebanon. “We don’t hear about the bombing of civilians”.

Clashes with the police in Italy

On the Rome side, despite the prefecture’s ban, a demonstration brought together several thousand people. “We want Gaza free”, “The revolution began on October 7”, “Italy must stop selling and sending weapons to Israel, we must immediately stop the genocide in Gaza”, « Palestine libre » et “Israel criminal state”shouted the demonstrators.

But the gathering degenerated and clashes broke out between young pro-Palestinian people and the police, with bottle throwing, firecrackers, tear gas and the use of water cannons.

The anti-riot forces wanted to prevent the demonstrators from wandering around the Italian capital, the compromise reached having been to let the demonstration take place exclusively in the square where it was to begin. The clashes lasted around twenty minutes, a police officer was injured and two demonstrators arrested.

In South Africa, demonstrators march towards Parliament

In Basel, Switzerland, thousands of people also gathered in a park near the train station for a national pro-Palestinian demonstration called by the Swiss-Palestine Federation and around a hundred organizations.

In South Africa, in central Cape Town, hundreds of people demonstrated, waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans at a pro-Gaza rally.

Armed with signs accusing Israel of genocide and racism, the demonstrators – many of whom wore keffiyehs, the symbol of the Palestinian struggle against Israel – headed towards the South African Parliament. “Israel is a racist state” et “We are all Palestinians”protesters chanted.

Some of them indicated that they supported South Africa’s complaint before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Pretoria maintains that the Israeli offensive in Gaza violates the 1948 UN convention on genocide.

Many South Africans compare Israel’s stance toward the Palestinians to apartheid, the segregationist regime imposed by the country’s white minority until the country’s first multiracial elections in 1994.

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