Liviagray
Jan 17th, 2009, 09:12 PM
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090117/twl-europeans-keep-up-protests-against-i-3cd7efd.html
Thousands of protesters calling for Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza rallied in European cities Saturday, even as Israel reportedly is poised to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
The demonstrations across the continent were largely peaceful apart from bursts of violence in Paris and London.
In the French capital, an estimated 2,600 people, some carrying Palestinian flags, marched through the city centre behind a banner declaring "Palestinian resistance: Stop the French-Israeli collaboration".
Police however stepped in when the marchers reached the Garnier Opera plaza, using tear gas to stop some protesters who tried to force open a gate at the opera house. Several people were arrested, an AFP correspondent reported.
Similar protests were held in cities around France including Marseille where Mustapha Mohammadi, the head of a Franco-Palestinian peace group, told the crowd that in Gaza scenes of massacre were "taking place before the cameras and in the face of the passivity of the Americans and the Europeans".
Thousands of protesters calling for Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza rallied in European cities Saturday, even as Israel reportedly is poised to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
The demonstrations across the continent were largely peaceful apart from bursts of violence in Paris and London.
In the French capital, an estimated 2,600 people, some carrying Palestinian flags, marched through the city centre behind a banner declaring "Palestinian resistance: Stop the French-Israeli collaboration".
Police however stepped in when the marchers reached the Garnier Opera plaza, using tear gas to stop some protesters who tried to force open a gate at the opera house. Several people were arrested, an AFP correspondent reported.
Similar protests were held in cities around France including Marseille where Mustapha Mohammadi, the head of a Franco-Palestinian peace group, told the crowd that in Gaza scenes of massacre were "taking place before the cameras and in the face of the passivity of the Americans and the Europeans".