ROME (AP) — Police officers used tear gas and water cannon to disperse violent protests in Rome as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in major European cities and other parts of the world yesterday to demand a ceasefire prior to the first anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.
Huge rallies were planned in several European cities, with the largest protests scheduled to take place from Saturday to Monday. Events will reach their peak on Monday the 7th, the anniversary day.
In Rome, several thousand people were protesting peacefully yesterday afternoon until a small group tried to march towards the city center, despite a ban by authorities who refused to authorize the protests citing security concerns.
Some protesters, dressed in black clothing and with their faces covered, threw bottles and paper bombs at the police, who responded using tear gas and water cannons, dispersing the crowd.
The protest in Rome had been quiet at first, with people chanting “Free Palestine. Free Lebanon” while waving Palestinian flags and holding signs calling for an immediate end to the conflict.
In London, thousands of people gathered in Russell Square amid a heavy police presence. Some of the march organizers had said they planned to target companies and institutions they said were “complicit in Israel’s crimes,” such as Barclays bank and the British Museum.
The atmosphere became tense when pro-Palestinian protesters and some people against the protest, holding Israeli flags, crossed paths in the streets. Alterations broke out after police officers pushed activists who tried to jump a police cordon. Fifteen people were arrested on suspicion of public order offenses and assault, London’s Metropolitan Police reported.
In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people held a peaceful march as many waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags and chanted “stop the genocide,” the DPA news agency reported, citing a figure provided by police. Two smaller protests in support of Israel took place without incident, he added.
In Paris
Several thousand protesters gathered peacefully in Paris’ Place de la République in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many waved flags while holding signs reading “stop the genocide,” “Free Palestine” and “Stay away from Lebanon.”
In South America, dozens of people mobilized peacefully in cities such as Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and opted for dramatizations that reflect the drama of a war. A woman dressed in black carrying a white bandage wrapper that resembled a dead child walked as protesters chanted: “The children of Gaza are not a threat.” Others carried huge Palestinian flags and banners with the slogan “a year of genocide, a life of resistance.”
“Peace without justice makes no sense, we have come to shout free Palestine,” Sheikh Yauad, a Palestinian resident in Ecuador, told the AP.
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