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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have taken to the streets in their hundreds in Washington DC and France’s Lyon on Saturday to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza amid the Israeli regime’s bloody onslaught against the blockaded territory.
Chanting “Free Palestine,” holding banners, and waving Palestinian flags, American demonstrators marched from the Washington Monument in the United States’ capital city towards the Capitol Building, which houses US Congress.
Similar rallies are planned in cities across the United States over the weekend.
“Enough is enough. [We] cannot remain silent at the ongoing slaughter of our brothers and sisters,” one protester was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Washington demonstrators also chanted, “Free. free Palestine” and “Ceasefire now!”
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters gathered in the French city of Lyon to take part in a pro-Palestine demonstration despite a ban imposed on such rallies by local authorities.
Footage showed demonstrators holding flags, banners and signs reading “Ceasefire now,” “Israel murderer, Macron complicit,” and “Peace for Palestine.”
“Gaza, we are here,” “Free Gaza, save Palestine,” “Politicians bombing children again,” “Israel is a criminal,” and “Macron, you have blood on your hands,” were other slogans chanted by the crowd.
“We’re here to support the people of Gaza and Palestine, who have been oppressed … and called terrorists, when the real terrorist is the Israeli government, which has been blockading Gaza for 15 years and martyring Palestinians…,” said one of the demonstrators.
“It’s a continuation of the Nakba of 1947–1948. The Nakba continues. After the 800,000 Palestinians deported in 1948, 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza are now hostages and prisoners of the Israeli government,” another demonstrator was quoted by AFP as saying.
They also urged for global efforts to “lift the criminal siege of Gaza,” while accusing the West of being “complicit of the Apartheid” regime of Israel.
Authorities in the Rhone Prefecture, where Lyon is located, had reportedly barred the event, but the restriction was reversed by the Lyon Administrative Court one hour before the gathering.
