Thousands march for ceasefire ahead of Oct 7 anniversary

A man waves the Lebanese (R) and Palestinian flags as he and others demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese people in central Athens on October 5, 2024. Agence France-Presse

LONDON — Thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.

Kicking off a planned wave of demonstrations worldwide, pro-Palestinian supporters gathered in cities in Europe, Africa and the Americas 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.

READ: Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary

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.

With Israel now mounting a ground operation in Lebanon and vowing to respond to a barrage of missiles fired by Iran this week, there are fears the conflict could spiral into a wider war.

Underlining international polarization over events in the Middle East, demonstrations in support of both Israel and the Palestinians are planned worldwide — sometimes with rival events scheduled in the same city.

‘Worse and worse’

A pro-Palestinian protest in Rome that drew thousands of people turned violent, as dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

READ: Bereaved and destitute: Gazans a year after October 7

At least one policeman was wounded and two protestors detained, AFP journalists said.

“Israel is a criminal state!” the demonstrators shouted.

In Berlin, police said they had detained 26 people who shouted insults at a pro-Israeli commemoration attended by around 650 people.

Meanwhile, a pro-Palestinian demonstration drew just over 1,000 protestors in the German capital, police said.

At the “National March for Palestine” in London, chants of “stop bombing civilians” were joined by shouts of “hands off Lebanon”.

Zackerea Bakir, 28, said he has attended dozens of marches around the United Kingdom. Large numbers continue to turn up because “everyone wants a change”, he told AFP.

“It’s continuing to just get worse and worse, and yet nothing seems to be changing,” said Bakir, joined at the rally by his mother and brother.

READ: A nation in pain: Israelis a year after October 7

While the rally in London was largely peaceful, at least 15 people were arrested, including three on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and one on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organization.

In Dublin, several hundred people took to the streets, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: “Ceasefire now!”.

In France, thousands of people marched in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Strasbourg to express solidarity with Palestinians, AFP journalists said.

Around 5,000 people joined a pro-Palestinian protest in Madrid, brandishing signs with messages such as “Boycott Israel”.

A pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Swiss city of Basel drew several thousand people, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also marched on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which was heavily guarded by riot police.

Soaring tension

In Cape Town in South Africa, hundreds walked to parliament, chanting: “Israel is a racist state” and “We are all Palestinian.”

Pro-Gaza marches were also planned Saturday in Johannesburg and Durban.

In Caracas, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested outside the United Nations’s headquarters for Venezuela, carrying a giant Palestinian flag.

They delivered a petition to the UN calling for an end to the “genocide” of the Palestinians.

“Where are the UN peacekeepers? Why haven’t they intervened?” university professor Jesus Reyes, 53, told AFP.

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

Commemorations for victims of the October 7 attack are also scheduled internationally, including ceremonies in London, Washington, Paris and Geneva.

Pope Francis has called for a day of “prayer and fasting for peace” on the anniversary of the attack, amid soaring tension in the Middle East.

An official anniversary ceremony will be held in Jerusalem on Monday.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will lead a memorial service at Sderot, one of the cities hardest hit during the onslaught by Palestinian militants.