Berlin, Paris and Rome: this is how the anniversary of October 7 became a pro-Palestinian show of force

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered in various cities across Europe in recent days, in what has become a show of force against Israel precisely on the eve of the anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023.

In Berlin, masked people clashed with police officers who canceled a planned demonstration due to violence, in Rome dozens of police officers were injured in severe clashes between protesters who tried to break through police barriers and the security forces, and in various demonstrations in other cities, from Palma de Mallorca through Paris to London, tens of thousands of people gathered to protest against Israel and the alleged “war crimes” it commits in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Also on the anniversary itself (Sunday), various pro-Palestinian organizations promised to present a presence on the streets of major cities on the continent, in the name of opposing the Israeli attack on Gaza in response to the terrorist attack on October 7.

Demonstrations every week

To a large extent, the demonstrations of the weekend were a continuation of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have been going on consistently for a year – the first began on October 8, 2023 in protest of Israeli bombings of Gaza – and which have so far proven effective in creating public pressure on the political system and the media, and in eroding support for Israel and solidarity with it who were registered at the beginning of the war in Gaza.

 

Bottles and stones fly at police officers – at least 20 police officers injured at pro-Palestine demo in Berlin!
Some officers even had to go to the hospital!

Video-Quelle:@YalcinAskin

LINK: https://t.co/TKDGdKcbsm… #b0610 pic.twitter.com/fILVlXIBIo

– Iman Shefati (@ISfati) October 6, 2024

In Berlin, Malmö, London and other cities, for example, pro-Palestinian demonstrations take place every week, sometimes more, and the presence of the demonstrators is well felt in public life. 456 pro-Palestinian demonstrations were registered in Berlin last year, according to data published in the Berliner Zeitung, with 24 of them banned by the authorities.

The fact that a significant Muslim population lives in Europe’s largest cities, which grew in the last decade after waves of immigration to the continent, provides a lot of human material for demonstrations against Israel. In the demonstrations, dolls stained with “blood” are displayed, Israel is referred to as a “child killer”, and the country is accused of committing genocide. There are calls to impose a boycott and arms embargo on Israel, and various leaders – from US President Joe Biden to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – are presented as “collaborators”.

Among the European demonstrators there are also many from the radical left, including young people, and campuses across the continent have become strongholds of pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In recent months, a hat has become a fashionable item of clothing in Western European countries and Scandinavia in particular. In Germany, the slogan “From the river to the sea – Palestine will be free” may have been banned for calling for the destruction of Israel, but variations on it can be heard, and in other countries it can be heard. Some of the demonstrations are conducted in Arabic, and what they have in common are large Palestinian flags and signs condemning Israel. In recent days, Hezbollah flags have also been seen in demonstrations on the continent.

After at the beginning of the conflict protesters tried to block train stations and even airports (in the Netherlands) or disrupt traffic, now the demonstrations are taking place in the streets of the big cities. Sometimes there are also demonstrations in solidarity with Israel, or demonstrations against it, but their number is much smaller and they are conducted under heavy security.

 

Rome riot police fire tear gas and water cannons to disperse crowds at pro-Palestinian rally banned by Italian authorities #5 October pic.twitter.com/NHM9thDbMN

– Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) October 5, 2024

The demonstrators can look with satisfaction at the rates of public support for Israel, which have dropped significantly in Europe in the past year, with the continuation of the war in Gaza, the failure to return the abductees, international rulings on the legal front against Israel, and also the de facto arms embargo that now encompasses almost all the countries of the continent.

According to a pan-European survey by YouGov, published last summer, between 62% and 74% of Europeans believe that “Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza”. While at the beginning of the war the European public was divided on the issue of whether Israel should be demanded to stop its military operations and declare an immediate ceasefire – “now there is a clear majority for a ceasefire”, according to the poll’s editors. This majority is between 61% in Sweden and 76% in Italy.

In all seven European countries examined, there was an erosion of support for Israeli operations. In addition, according to the survey, “there is a decrease in the number of respondents who feel sympathy (sympathy) for Israel, compared to an increase in feelings of sympathy for the Palestinians”, which is common to all the countries examined. In Germany, the drop in sympathy for Israel was the sharpest, from 29% in November 2023 to only 19% in July 2024. In Italy, only 7% of the public expressed sympathy for Israel, compared to 28% for the Palestinians.

The politicians also condemn

The demonstrators can also look with satisfaction at the positions of the politicians on the continent. Countries like Belgium or Spain were perhaps the first to speak out harshly against Israel, with the Prime Minister of Belgium calling to “stop doing business as usual with Israel” already at the beginning of the year, or the Prime Minister of Spain who promoted the imposition of sanctions on Israel in the European Union in recent months.

He was now joined by senior politicians from across Europe. Among them is the new British government, which announced an arms embargo on about 30 types of weapons that Israel requested from the United Kingdom, and also French President Emmanuel Macron, who said at the end of the week that the world should stop supplying weapons to Israel in its war in Gaza. German Foreign Minister Anlana Barbuk, for her part, condemned the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and is considered to be behind the scenes delaying the approval of German arms exports to Israel.

From this point of view, the large gap between the statements of heads of state on Monday in favor of Israel, against the background of the anniversary of the terrorist attack by Hamas, and their positions regarding the policy towards it stands out. Macron, for example, wrote on the social network that “the pain is still here, as acute as a year ago. The pain of the Israeli people. Our own pain. The pain of wounded humanity.” German Foreign Minister Barbuk wrote that this is a “turning point for the people of Israel… and also for Germany.” In practice, however, these countries called for an end to Israeli action in Lebanon as well as a cease-fire in Gaza.

And an example of the caution with which politicians now treat what could be interpreted as support for Israel can be found in the announcement of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday. The British politician wrote that October 7 was “the darkest day in Jewish history”, and that the British government should “stand by” the Jewish community in the country, but did not mention the State of Israel in his words, or any support for it. He called, instead, for “the removal of the barriers to humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip” and “an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.”