BEIRUT, Lebanon: Nearly 20,000 people marched through southern Lebanon yesterday to protest Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, as thousands also took to the streets in several European cities to show their anger.
Similar protests have occurred almost daily in the Middle East and elsewhere since Israel launched its operation more than two weeks ago. The demonstrations have been fueled by the rising death toll in Gaza, which currently stands at over 800 Palestinians.
Yesterday’s rally in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh saw thousands of demonstrators march through the streets waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags with some protestors carrying posters of bloody Palestinian children. “Gaza is the nation’s battle,” read a banner carried by several protesters.
Thousands of people also protested in several cities across Europe, with the largest crowds in Germany, where some 20,000 took to the streets in Berlin and two other cities.
An estimated 8,500 rallied at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz and then marched through downtown to the city’s main train station. Some 10,000 people also marched in the western city of Duisburg.
Thousands of demonstrators in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh gathered in front of the American consulate to toss shoes at the 19th century town house. Sky News television footage showed police recoiling as a storm of shoes flew over their heads.
“They were just flying, like hail through the sky,” protest organizer Ian Hood said in a telephone interview. He said protesters were angry at the US for failing to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.
In London, about 12,000 demonstrators rallied in Hyde Park in support of the Palestinian cause, carrying placards marked “Gaza: Stop the massacre” and chanting “free, free Palestine.”
