Support increases for Palestine as Israel-Gaza enter seventh day of conflict

With the conflict between Israel and Palestine escalating every day, many have lost their lives.

Citizens all over the world are holding rallies in support of the Palestinians. These marches come amid the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since a 2014 war in Gaza.

Let's take a look at the protests:

Bangladesh is one of 28 members of the United Nations (UN) that does not recognise the state of Israel.

Thousands of Muslims, led by activists of the Islamist political party Islami Andolan Bangladesh, denounced attacks by Israel against Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, after Eid-Al-Fitr prayers in Dhaka on May 14, 2021.

After the end of Eid Al-Fitr prayers at Dhaka’s main Baitul Mokarram Mosque, protesters crowded together outside, carrying signs reading "Boycott terrorist state Israel" and chanting "Down with Israel."

 

On May 14, 2021 thousands of Jordanians gathered in the capital Amman and on the border with the Israeli-occupied West Bank, protesting in solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem and Gaza.

Before being stopped by a heavy security deployment, demonstrators in Amman shouted, "The people want the liberation of Palestine" and "Jordan salutes Arab Palestine" as they marched. 

Some were carrying Palestinian and Jordanian flags, as well as signs that read, "Expel the (Israeli) ambassador and shut the embassy", while others on the border were chanting "Open the borders" and "We are ready to die as martyrs for Jerusalem", without trying to cross the frontier.

Approximately half of Jordan's 10 million-strong population is of Palestinian origin, including around 2.2 million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations.

According to French interior ministry figures, around 22,000 people nationwide gathered for 60 protests and marches around France, on May 15, 2021. Demonstrations took place in the country's capital Paris, along with Strasbourg, Marseille, Lyon and Nantes, among other cities.

In Paris, a ban was put in place by the police, was done fearing a repeat of clashes during a similar protest in 2014. Despite the ban, rallies went on as planned and the Paris police had to resort to tear gas and water cannon to disperse the pro-Palestinian rally.

Demonstrators were seen chanting "Free Palestine" or "Israel, get out, Palestine doesn't belong to you" while waving the territory's flag.

On May 15, 2021, protesters took to the streets in London to oppose violence in Israel and to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Thousands of demonstrators marched from Hyde Park to the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, organised this protest. According to the organisers, they were protesting against evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah (a predominantly Palestinian area of East Jerusalem), the bombing of Gaza and the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

While calling for the UK government to take "immediate action", they said: "It must stop allowing Israel's brutal violence against and oppression of the Palestinian people to go unpunished."

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and shouted "Free Palestine", with others chanting "Israel is a terror state".

Protests also took place in Bristol, Manchester and elsewhere in the UK, with another demonstration planned in Glasgow’s George Square.

Germany has seen scattered demonstrations this week over the escalating conflict as pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place in Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig and several other German cities.

Thousands of people joined the demonstrations in Germany against Israel's bombardment of Gaza. In Frankfurt, an attempt was made to block the protest but was overturned by a court on the grounds that bans can only be declared once "milder means," such as the rules imposed on demonstrators, have been exhausted.

With several antisemitic incidents taking place in various German cities, which included protesters shouting anti-Semitic slogans and burning Israeli flags, Germany's top officials have warned protesters not to use these protests as a platform for antisemitism. 

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country respects the right to demonstrate, but "whoever uses such protests to proclaim their hatred of Jews is abusing their right to protest."

Ankara locals rallied at the Israeli Embassy in the city to decry the recent rise of violence in East Jerusalem as well as an exchange of fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The demonstration was attended by members of the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions. 

Held on May 10, 2021, the protest was aimed at Israeli actions against Palestinians.

Despite a full lockdown aimed at curbing coronavirus cases, the protesters in Istanbul, including Syrians and Palestinians, carried Palestinian flags while chanting, “(Turkish soldiers) to Gaza” and “Down with Israel, down with America.”

In Madrid, some 2,500 people, many of them young people wrapped in Palestinian flags, marched to the Puerta del Sol plaza in the city centre.

"This is not a war, it's genocide," they chanted. Gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in the Spanish capital to protest Israel’s use of force against the Palestinians, they shouted "Israel, assassin of the Palestinian people" and "it’s Palestine, not Israel" in Spanish.

Some held up photos of Palestinians being arrested by Israeli forces.