Pro-Palestine rallies around the world go unabated
On Tuesday evening, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim led a large rally to condemn Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, the latest sign of support for the Palestinian cause in recent weeks.
More than 16,000 protesters attended the rally at the indoor Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Channel News Asia reported, and were made up of “participants from all ages and all walks of life, including students, professionals, refugees, religious leaders, and politicians.”
With a Palestinian keffiyeh draped around his shoulders, bearing an image of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Anwar described the Israeli response as “the height of barbarism in this world,” and said that support from the United States and Europe was contributing to the bloodshed.
“It’s a level of insanity to allow people to be butchered, babies to be killed, hospitals to be bombed, and schools to be destroyed,” Anwar told the crowd, which waved Palestinian flags and held up signs reading “Stop the War” and “Free Palestine.”
Also, demonstrations in Tempe and Tucson, the U.S., over the weekend highlighted the rising death toll in Gaza.
Several dozen Tucsonans gathered in front of the city's federal building downtown on Sunday afternoon to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military support for Israel. Palestinian-American Ehab Tamimi said he came to speak out both against the latest airstrikes and the blockade Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007.
"There have been all sorts of resistance, most of which is nonviolent, to remove the blockade and have the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have their rights restored, their freedom of movement restored, the normality of their life restored, but nothing has actually happened in that sense," he said.
“Gaza Genocide”
Tensions on U.S. campuses have escalated to levels rarely seen before since the October 7 Hamas attack, which left 1,400 Israelis dead and 220 in captivity, and over 6,500 Palestinians dead in Gaza following Israel's response to the attack.
Student groups on campuses across the United States are organizing walkouts on Wednesday afternoon demanding an end to what they describe as Israel’s “siege on Gaza” and the “Gaza Genocide.”
In Pretoria, South Africa, protesters came to the streets and chanted "Freedom, freedom of Palestine".
At least 100 people were arrested in Egypt after taking part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations late last week, though some have subsequently been released, lawyers working on the cases said on Tuesday.
State-approved protests against Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip were held at several locations in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt on Friday.
However, some protesters in Cairo walked to Tahrir Square - the center of Egypt's 2011 uprising - which was not among the sites approved for the pro-Palestinian demonstration. The protesters were quickly dispersed by security personnel.
Also, in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden, a cry for Palestine echoed through the city’s streets.