TEHRAN – Amid a wave of global condemnation over Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza, demonstrators from multiple cities gathered over the weekend to express unwavering support for the Palestinian people and sought an immediate end to war and siege.
In Yemen, crowds flooded the streets of Sadah in the north, where demonstrators repeated full solidarity with the people of Gaza. According to Yemeni Al Masilah’s television, the rally followed a statement by a senior Yemeni official, stressing that US airstrikes on their country would not thwart their stance with Palestine.
In Pakistan, massive protests broke out in port cities in southern Karachi, but local rebellion also made headlines. In one iconic gesture, the shopkeeper removed the PepsiCo sign from his storefront, protesting allegedly accomplices at the company, calling it Gaza’s “genocide.”
In Europe, anti-war protesters marched in several major cities. In London, one protester told reporters:
In Leeds, north of England, activists sought to put an end to both Gaza’s “genocide” and the ongoing “lockdown” that suffocated humanitarian aid.
In Germany, police reportedly clashed with anti-war activists during the protests in Berlin. Students at Humboldt University in Berlin called for a ceasefire in Gaza, urging the university to cut ties with war industry companies.
Spanish health workers have made iconic protests, highlighting the suffering of Gaza medical responders, many of whom work during artillery fire in hospitals that have fallen supply and collapsed.
In France, demonstrators gathered at a location in Delabastille in Paris, waving a Palestinian flag in support of journalists who targeted Gaza. Media captured the moment as protesters condemned Israel’s attacks on press freedom and the murder of Palestinian reporters. Elsewhere in the city, crowds sought an immediate halt of what was called the “genocide campaign” by Israeli forces.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza, international pressure on Israel continues to intensify, demands from human rights groups, world leaders and civil society groups increase, and independent investigations into accountability, the end of violence and alleged war crimes. The persistence of global protests underscores growing dissatisfaction with what many see as the ongoing siege in Palestinian enclaves and what many view as a failure to enforce further bloody or meaningful consequences of the international community to enforce military action.