Protesters across Europe urge intl. intervention to stop Gaza genocide
Thousands of protesters in Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm have demanded their governments break silence on Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, urging immediate international intervention and sanctions against the regime.
In Berlin, thousands of people assembled at Oranienplatz on Saturday to protest Israel’s intensified airstrikes and ground invasion of Gaza.
The demonstrators chanted slogans like “Freedom for Palestine,” “Germany finances, Israel bombs,” “Israel is a terrorist state,” and “Stop the genocide.”
German protesters asserted that no person or state has the right to deny an entire people their rights, displace them, or commit acts of violence against them. Some German protesters of Jewish descent also joined the rally.
In Paris, advocates of the Palestinian cause congregated at Bourse Square, demanding embargos on Israel and unhindered access for humanitarian aid convoys into Gaza.
Parisian protesters highlighted the devastating famine gripping Gaza due to the Israeli-imposed blockade by banging empty pots and pans while chanting slogans such as “Israel is a murderer, Macron is an accomplice” and “There is genocide in Gaza; we will not remain silent.”
Myriem, a 44-year-old protester, told reporters that she came to the demonstration to oppose the French government’s support for Israel and to show solidarity with the suffering Palestinian people.
She described the restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza as “inhumane” and a “scandal,” and called on immediate public mobilization.
In Stockholm, hundreds of people gathered at Odenplan Square in response to calls from various civil society organizations that urged the Swedish government to take action against Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza.
Protesters marched to Sweden’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and chanted “Freedom for Palestine” and “No to Netanyahu’s Plan.”
Swedish activist Lars Ohly, who attended the protest, said it is unacceptable that Sweden remained silent in the face of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Ohly emphasized that over 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 15,000 children, and demanded that the Swedish government take decisive action against the ethnic cleansing and occupation of Gaza.
On March 18, the Israeli regime violated the fragile two-month ceasefire agreement with the Hamas resistance group, resuming its indiscriminate attacks on the densely populated Gaza Strip. This resulted in the death and injury of thousands more Palestinians, the majority of whom were women and children.
Since March 2, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has drastically worsened due to the Israeli regime’s severe restrictions on the entry of food, fuel, medicine, and water into the territory.
This marks the most prolonged period of total siege of Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023.
According to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza suffers from phase 5 famine, and nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition.
IPC defines phase 5 famine as when at least one in five households experience an extreme lack of food and face starvation, resulting in destitution, extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition, and death.
