Millions worldwide protest in support of Palestine
Millions demonstrated Friday across various countries of the world in support of Palestinians and against the intensifying Israeli bombardment of Gaza, underscoring the risk of a wider regional conflict as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion.
Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated Friday across the Middle East including Iran in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel.
This is while, France and Germany banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several Western countries said they had stepped up security fearing that protests could lead to acts of violence, Reuters reported.
Some 1,000 Muslims rallied in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, after Friday prayers to show solidarity with the Palestinians. Chanting “Free Palestine” and “Crush the Zionists”, they burned two effigies draped with Israeli flags, aljazeera.com reported.
From the typically sedate streets of downtown Amman in Jordan to Yemen’s war-scarred capital of Sana’a, crowds of Muslim worshippers poured into the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by devastating Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that began after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel last Saturday, AP reported.
The Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,530 people in the Gaza Strip, which has already been under a land, sea, and air blockade for more than 15 years.
In Iran, tens of thousands of people participated in nationwide rallies, chanting slogans in support of Palestinians and in condemnation of the United States and the apartheid Tel Aviv regime.
The demonstrators were also carrying pro-Palestine banners. Some Iranian political figures participated in the protests as well.
At the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds’ Old City on Friday, Israeli police permitted only certain older men, women, and children to enter the sprawling hilltop compound for prayers, trying to limit the potential for violence. Only 5,000 worshippers made it into the site, the Islamic endowment that manages the mosque said. On a typical Friday, some 50,000 gather there for prayers.
In Beirut, thousands of supporters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group waved Lebanese, Palestinian, and Hezbollah flags, chanting slogans in support of Gaza.
In Baghdad, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square — the protest hub of Iraq’s capital — for rallies called by the influential Shia cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr.
“May this demonstration ... terrify the great evil, the United States, which supports Zionist terrorism against our loved ones in Palestine,” al-Sadr said in an online statement.
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, protesters — including Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp formed after the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — also rallied.
In Yemen’s Sana’a, demonstrators crowded the streets waving Yemeni and Palestinian flags.
After Friday prayers, Egyptian demonstrators ringed the historic Al-Azhar Mosque — the Sunni Muslim world’s foremost religious institution — in downtown Cairo, chanting that Israel remained their enemy “generation after generation”.
In Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, some worshippers trampled on American and Israeli flags.
“International media and international courts turn a blind eye to the injustices that befall Palestinians. They only notice the actions that the Palestinians take to defend themselves,” said Faheem Ahmed, a worshipper in Karachi. “They call those actions terrorism.”