ROME: Huge numbers turned out at pro-Palestinian rallies in Europe on Saturday, calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the release of activists on board a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the territory.
Organizers of the protest in Rome said hundreds of thousands of people had turned out for a fourth day running, after Israel intercepted the 45-strong flotilla seeking to reach Gaza earlier this week.
Some 70,000 people, according to police, took to the streets in Barcelona, in one of several pro-Palestinian protests to take place across Spain.
Elsewhere, several thousand people marched through the centre of the Irish capital, Dublin, to mark what organizers said was "two years of genocide" in Gaza.
With Ireland, Spain is one of the fiercest European critics of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
But in Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government has been criticized for its inaction on the siege of the Palestinian territory.
On Saturday, Meloni accused demonstrators of defacing a statue of Pope John Paul II with graffiti in front of Rome's main train station, calling it a "shameful act".
"They claim to take to the streets for peace, but they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace," she said in a statement.
Protesters in the Italian capital, including families with children, shouted, "We are all Palestinians", "Free Palestine" and "Stop the genocide", with many carrying Palestinian flags and wearing black-and-white chequered keffiyehs.
"Usually, I don't appreciate large-scale demonstrations, but today, I couldn't bring myself to stay home," Donato Colucci, a 44-year-old scout leader accompanying 150 youths from a secular association, told AFP.
"I think countries like Italy, France, and Spain have developed a culture of resistance and democratic values more than others because they experienced dictatorship and violence."
In Barcelona, Marta Carranza, a 65-year-old pensioner demonstrating with a Palestinian flag on her back, said Israel's policy "has been wrong for many years and we have to take to the streets".
Solidarity
The Global Sumud flotilla, which was intercepted on Wednesday, left Barcelona in early September and had been seeking to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations says famine has taken hold.
Around 50 Spaniards on the flotilla have been detained by Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told public television in an interview aired on Saturday.
The flotilla organisers say Israel's actions were "illegal" since they intercepted the vessels while they were traversing international waters.
In Paris, where some 10,000 people gathered, a spokesperson for the French contingent of Global Sumud, Helene Coron, told the crowd: "We'll never stop.
"This flotilla didn't get to Gaza. But we'll send another, then another until Palestine and Gaza are free."
Jordi Bas, a 40-year-old primary school teacher waving a Palestinian flag in Barcelona, said he was not surprised by the huge turn-out.
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