Pro-Palestine march in London turns angry over Israeli bombing

Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in major cities across the West and Middle East, with violent clashes breaking out.

Protesters attend a rally to express solidarity with Palestine on May 15 in London. Picture: Getty

Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in major cities across the world, with violent clashes breaking out at demonstrations.

Protesters have turned out en mass in France, Denmark and London, as well as Sydney and Melbourne, Cape Town, several North American cities and countries across the Middle East.

A huge pro-Palestinian London protest march coincided with the bombing of a media building in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hyde Park and onto the Israeli embassy in Kensington on Saturday to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The protesters, which included many young people, as well as family groups and children chanting “Free, Free Palestine’’ carrying banners pleading to stop the bombings, gathered in central London at the same time that Israeli military jets bombed a high rise media building in Gaza.

The Israelis gave an hour’s notice to evacuate the building’s tenants, which included major media organisations including the Associated Press wire service and Al Jazeera.

The bombardment destroyed the 13 storey al-Jalaa building prompting an immediate reaction from the White House.

‘Expel the ambassador, shut the embassy’

Thousands of Jordanians gathered in the capital Amman and on the border with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem and Gaza.

Around half of Jordan’s 10 million-strong population is of Palestinian origin, including some 2.2 million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Demonstrators in Amman shouted, “The people want the liberation of Palestine” and “Jordan salutes Arab Palestine” as they marched, before being stopped by a heavy security deployment, an AFP correspondent said.

Jordanian demonstrators take part in a protest to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, in the capital Amman . Picture: AFP

Some carried Palestinian and Jordanian flags, as well as signs that read, “Expel the (Israeli) ambassador and shut the embassy”.

“The border must be opened so that we can defend Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem to the death,” said 23-year-old Mohammed Khalil, referring to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, located in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

“Israel practices terror,” said the student, a Palestinian scarf draped over his shoulders. “Don’t they (Palestinians) have the right to defend themselves?”

Police use tear gas on Paris protesters

Paris police used tear gas and water cannon Saturday to disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities, who feared a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence during the worst fighting between Israel and Hamas in years.

Several hundreds of people converged on the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north of the capital, amid a massive security presence involving some 4,200 officers, officials said.

Police blocked off wide boulevards as well as narrow streets where some of the protesters were forced to retreat, while knots of residents and passers-by watched or recorded the scene with their phones.

Protesters hold a banner reading 'Stop annexation - Palestine will win' during a demonstration in Paris overnight. Picture: AFP

Some threw stones or tried to set up roadblocks with construction barriers, but for the most part police pursued groups across the district while preventing any march toward the Place de la Bastille as planned.

“You want to prohibit me from showing solidarity with my people, even as my village is being bombed?” Mohammed, 23 and wearing a “Free Palestine” t-shirt, told AFP.

‘Not in my name’

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.

Gatherings to show solidarity with Palestinians took place in cities including Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan.

Several hundred people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York, chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read “End Israeli Apartheid” and “Freedom for Gaza.” Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said “Not in my name” and “Solidarity with Palestine” as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

White House responds to tower bombing

White House spokesman Jen Psaki said: “We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.’’

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city on May 15. Israeli air strikes pounded the Gaza Strip, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a key media building. Picture: AFP

The Israelis said the building had contained military assets belonging to the military intelligence of the Hamas terror organisation.

The US envoy for Israel-Palestinian affairs, Hady Amr, was due to meet Israeli officials on Saturday in Jerusalem before heading to the occupied West Bank for meetings with Palestinian officials.

But the American attempts to de-escalate tensions comes amid a sixth wave of attacks from Palestinians firing rockets at Tel Aviv and the fierce military attacks from Israel into Gaza.

A statement from Al Jazeera said it condemned “in the strongest terms the bombing and destruction of its offices by the Israeli military in Gaza and views this as a clear act to stop journalists from conducting their sacred duty to inform the world and report events on the ground”.

It added: “Al Jazeera promises to pursue every available route to hold the Israeli government responsible for its actions.”

Associated Press president Gary Pruitt said he was “shocked and horrified” at the Israeli air attack.

“This is an incredibly disturbing development, he said, adding, “we narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life”.

Mr Pruitt said the world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.

London’s protest was headed by Labour figures such as the former leader Jeremy Corbyn and the ex-shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and coincided with the Palestinian Nakba day, which is the anniversary of Arabs being expelled from their homes in 1948 following the creation of the Israeli state.

Speaking outside the Israeli embassy gates, Mr Corbyn called on Israel to “end the occupation now, end all the settlements now and withdraw. End the siege of Gaza now.’’

Ms Abbott said land seizures from Palestinian people and being killed in their homes was illegal.

“Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity,’’she said. “Thank you for standing with us.”

The head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, told the crowds: “there are no two sides, only one side, one side, the fight to end injustice. We will stay on our land, we will be buried beneath our land, we will never waiver.’’

Organisers which included Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain said more than 100,000 people had attended the protest.

Hundreds of armed Metropolitan riot police moved in late Saturday afternoon when a determined group of around 1000 protesters refused to disperse and began throwing bottles into the Israeli embassy grounds.