Pro-Palestine protests continue in Europe despite police crackdown
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Thousands of people demonstrated in France, Sweden, and Belgium in protest of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
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Protestors in Paris holding Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against the Israeli genocide in Gaza, faced by police forces deployed to disperse the demonstration on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. (Social media)
For the third consecutive day, France is witnessing protests in support of Palestine and in opposition to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and the heinous Israeli massacre in Rafah.
In its latest report on Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza announced that, since October, the occupation has killed 36,171 people and injured 81,420 as the war nears its eight-month mark.
The largest demonstrations so far were held in Paris on Wednesday, where thousands gathered at Place Saint-Augustin, chanting in solidarity with Gaza, saying, "Gaza…Paris is with you."
Protesters also chanted slogans against French President Emmanuel Macron for his stances on the ongoing war on the Strip.
French police forces charged at the protesters to disperse them, resulting in heavy clashes.
Read more: UK doctors retell horror accounts of genocide in Gaza: The Guardian
🔊⚡🇫🇷 – Clashes between pro-Palestine protesters and police in Paris during tonight's protest in the French capital. pic.twitter.com/cXmNSMDIV4
— 973Renard (@973_renard) May 30, 2024
Macron 'will be complicit'
Joining the demonstrations, French Leftist MP Sebastien Delogu from La France Insoumise (LFI) urged Macron's government to recognize the State of Palestine, following the recent decisions by Spain, Norway, and Ireland earlier this week.
Delogu also demanded that Macron take the responsibility to stop arming the Israeli occupation entity, otherwise "they will be complicit in what is happening in Palestine."
On Tuesday, Delogue was suspended for 15 days for raising Palestine's flag in the National Assembly in response to Minister Franck Riester criticizing Palestinian Resistance group Hamas.
Read more: IOF kill two paramedics, Palestinian civilians in Gaza
During the same session, Alma Dufour, also a member of LFI, called on the French government to sever economic ties with the Israeli occupation.
"By waving a Palestinian flag, will the president of the republic finally wake up and tell himself to stop selling weapons? Can he now ask to recognize the Palestinian statehood?" Delogu told reporters after the session. "I think the French state is an accomplice in what happens today in Palestine. Our group (LFI party) and I are proud of standing up for international law, and the people who are currently suffering and [being] massacred in Palestine."
Read more: Employers reluctant to hire grads who attended pro-Palestine protests
Sweden protests Gaza genocide
In Sweden, police forces unleashed dogs on students of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, as they protested the ongoing Gaza genocide in Stockholm.
Similarly, during a picket at Lund University in Sweden, a large sign was held up by demonstrators reading, "More than 5,479 students, 261 teachers, 95 university doctors killed by Israel in Gaza!"
📍Stockholm, Sweden
— National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) May 29, 2024
Our brave comrades at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm face down state repression, including the use of police dogs, as they protest the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. We will not be intimidated by the police—it only confirms that our cause… pic.twitter.com/oiaHLB8P2p
Belgium: UGent cuts ties with Israeli institutions
Additionally, students at the University at the University of Ghent (UGent) in Belgium held a silent protest in support of Palestine and Gaza.
Earlier this month, UGent announced it was cutting ties with three educational and research institutions in the Israeli occupation entity that it says no longer align with its human rights policy.
Rector Rik Van de Walle, Rector at UGent, said then that the academic institution is ending its partnerships with the Holon Institute of Technology, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, and the Volcani Center.
مشاهد من الوقفة الطلابية في جامعة "خنت" في #بلجيكا تضامناً مع #فلسطين ورفضاً للعدوان الإسرائيلي على #غزة #ثورة_الجامعات #فلسطين #الميادين pic.twitter.com/xzHlG8w67S
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) May 30, 2024
Read more: Professors being fired from jobs for pro-Palestine speech, solidarity
