BARCELONA — Hundreds of thousands of Italians and Spanish marched in Rome, Barcelona and Madrid on Saturday against the Israel military campaign in Gaza, in a demonstration of the growing international indignation for war, which has been two years.
The protests in almost all the main Spanish cities were planned for weeks, and the march in Rome was carried out after the indignation generalized by the Israeli interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla that sailed from Barcelona in an attempt to break the blockade to the Palestinian territory.
The protests in southern Europe occur after Hamas announced that he has accepted some elements of the Plan presented by US President Donald Trump to end the war, which has plunged the main city of the Gaza Strip in the famine and has raised accusations of genocide against Israel.
The Police of Rome said that 250,000 people attended, although the organizers said that the figure was one million, on the second consecutive day of protests in Italy. In that country, more than 2 million people protested on Friday throughout the country in a general strike in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.
In Spain, the authorities indicated that 100,000 people marched in Madrid and another 70,000 filled the center of Barcelona. The organizers of the march in Madrid raised assistance to 400,000, and the organizers in Barcelona said 300,000 people participated.
Although the protests were peaceful, hours after the official demonstration in Barcelona ended, there were clashes between the police and several hundred people, some of whom vandalized stores and caused panic scenes between buyers and passers -by.
The activists also summoned the Spaniards to march in Valencia, Sevilla, Málaga and other cities.
Smaller marches took place in Paris, Lisbon, Athens and Skopje, Macedonia del Norte, as well as in London and Manchester, England.
Protests in Rome criticize Meloni
The protest in Rome, which followed a route next to the Colosseum, was organized by three Palestinian organizations together with local unions and students.
In the Piazza San Giovanni, the protesters chanted and applauded the name of Francesca Albanese, of Italian origin, which is the special rapporteur of the United Nations on the occupied Palestinian territories and open criticism of Israel.
Although the organizers had requested that only Palestinian flags be taken, there were some banners where Hezbollah and Hamas political groups were praised. One said, “October 7, the day of the Palestinian Resistance”, in reference to the attack of October 7, 2023 perpetrated by Hamas in Israel that unleashed the war, and another great flag said “death, death to the FDI”, in reference to the Israel defense forces. A group also chanted the same motto, published the state station RAI.
The opposition legislator Riccardo Magi, secretary of the Piu European Centering Party (more Europe), who was among the protesters, criticized the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for her refusal to recognize a Palestinian State, following the example of Spain, France, United Kingdom and other Western countries.
“Meloni cannot continue with this obscene victimism: these are spontaneous protests against the inaction and complicity of his government. He must recognize this and begin to work diplomatically for peace,” Magi told the Italian media.
Mass protest in Barcelona
In recent weeks, Spain experienced a rebound in supporting the Palestinians while their leftist government intensifies diplomatic efforts against the ultra -rightist regime of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The protests against the participation of an Israeli -owned cycling team repeatedly interrupted the return to Spain last month, when the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, described the destruction in Gaza as “genocide” and asked to veto the presence of Israeli teams in international sports competitions.
The day of protests began in Barcelona when people crowded the wide walk of grace, the main boulevard of the city center, before noon. Many families attended together with people of all ages, carrying Palestinian flags. The posters carried messages like “Gaza hurts me”, “stop the genocide” and “do not touch the flotilla.”
More than 40 Spaniards, among which is the former mayor of Barcelona, were part of the 450 activists that Israel withdrew from the vessels of the flotilla this week.
Although protests are likely to influence the Israeli government, protesters hope to inspire other mobilizations and encourage European leaders to adopt a harder position towards Israel.
María Jesús Parra, 63, marched waving a Palestinian flag after traveling for an hour from home in another city to Barcelona. He wants the European Union to act against what he described as the horrors he sees daily in the news.
“How is it possible that we are witnessing a live genocide after what we (like Europe) experience in the 1940s?” Parra wondered. “Now no one can say that I didn’t know what was happening.”
The people in Madrid marched behind banners that said “shame” and “racist war, free Palestine”, while they chanted “Netanyahu (is a) murderer.”
The Greek police believe that a larger demonstration and a march will take place on Sunday to coincide with one in favor of Israel. The two marches will be separated by about 3 kilometers (2 miles) and the Police will be present to prevent the proper march from reaching the Israeli embassy, as has happened on previous occasions.
The war in Gaza began after the insurgent attack led by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people died and another 251 were taken as hostages. Israel responded with a military campaign in the strip that has caused more than 67,000 dead and almost 170,000 injured, according to the Gazatí Ministry of Health, which is part of the government led by Hamas.
The United Nations agencies and many independent experts consider their figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties in times of war.