Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday, November 4, in various cities around the world, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Gaza’s civilians have been subject to heavy bombing by the Israeli military since the onset of the war on October 7.
Thousands demonstrated in Israel on Saturday, as pressure mounts on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his government’s lack of preparedness for the October 7 attacks and its handling of the ensuing hostage crisis.
In the US capital on Saturday several thousands of protesters called for a ceasefire in Gaza amid Israel’s relentless bombing campaign, with some slamming President Joe Biden’s support for Washington’s top ally in the Middle East.
While in Berlin thousands also took to the streets in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid ongoing bombardments by Israel after the deadly Hamas attack on its territory on October 7.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters similarly rallied in London, Paris calling for a ceasefire in Gaza after Iranians took to the streets against the United States and Israel.
Police estimated that about 30,000 attended the rally in Trafalgar Square, central London. Pro-Palestinian protests also took place in cities across the United Kingdom on Saturday, including in Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow.
French authorities said 19,000 people demonstrated in Paris, while the CGT communist-led trade union put the numbers at 60,000.
In Lahore, Pakistani traders took to the streets in large numbers holding Palestinian flags and placards saying “Save Gaza”. Outside the grand mosque in Senegal’s capital Dakar, some 200 people gathered to support the Palestinians.
In Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv, several thousand protesters took to the streets on Saturday evening, including relatives and friends of some of the hostages, chanting: “Bring them home now”.
International pressure is growing on Israel to agree to humanitarian pauses in the Gaza fighting, but hostages’ loved-ones said they should be released as a precondition.
In Jerusalem, hundreds came together outside Netanyahu’s residence with more explicit calls for his resignation.
The Washington rally in, at which demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and wore the traditional keffiyeh scarf, was the largest since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 7.
In Berlin Police put the turnout at 9,000 in the demonstration and at 17,000 in the western city of Duesseldorf, more than expected.
The Berlin protest passed off peacefully, although police said they made around 60 arrests for public order offenses and on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred.
At the Berlin rally, many protesters came with their families and children.
Fighting raged in Gaza on Saturday for a 29th day since Hamas militants stormed across the Israeli border and, according to Israeli officials, killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted over 240 others.
Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops. The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory says 9,488 people have been killed, around two-thirds of them women and children.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
