From London to Berlin to Vienna, crowds filled the streets of cities, chanting “Liberate Palestine” and waving red, green, black and white Palestinian flags.
Tens of thousands of people marched along the River Thames in London alone, about 5,500 people gathered in Berlin and about 500 in Vienna.
In Bern, Switzerland, police and demonstrators clashed after about 2,000 people took part in an unauthorized rally. Fireworks were thrown and police responded with tear gas and water cannon.
Ben Jamal, head of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said the protesters shared “relief for the Palestinian people” but warned that “this ceasefire will not hold.”
Jamal rejected Washington’s proposed Gaza plan, calling it “a cause for concern” rather than hope.
Demonstrators in London held placards reading “Stop the Starvation in Gaza” and “Stop the Genocide,” and some chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Police said a small number of counter-protesters waving Israeli flags tried to disrupt the rally, leading to minor scuffles and several arrests.
In Berlin, where a large march took place two weeks ago, demonstrators accused the German government of “standing on the wrong side of history” through its unwavering support for the Israeli regime.
Since October 2023, the Israeli regime’s brutal war has killed at least 67,682 people in the Gaza Strip, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health.
The siege plunged Gaza into famine and widespread disease, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble.
“We have to take our eyes off Gaza,” said student Katrina Scales, 23.
She added that a temporary ceasefire was “not enough” and vowed to continue protests.
“We’ve been here before. They’re talking about peace while planning new settlements and so-called ‘development projects’ in Gaza,” said Steve Headley, a trade unionist.
He criticized US President Donald Trump’s proposed Gaza Riviera, calling it a “cruel distraction from mass destruction”.
For Miranda Finch, 74, who was marching with the banner “Descendants of Holocaust Survivors Against the Gaza Genocide,” the ceasefire was “just a sliver.”
“Palestinians are returning to a state of nothing: rubble, bodies, sewage,” she said.
Fabio Capogreco, who attended his fifth protest with his family, said the ceasefire was “too little, too late.”
MNA