2023-11-11 14:58:00
Some 21,000 people, according to police figures, marched through the streets of the Belgian capital to “reaffirm the importance of upholding international law, denounce European inaction in the face of ongoing violations of international law in Palestine and demand urgently the implementation of an immediate ceasefire to save lives”, we can read in the press release from the organizers who speak of 45,000 demonstrators.
“When hundreds of demonstrations across Europe are necessary to say that bombing children is intolerable, this is where humanity has failed,” could be read on a sign, among the more classic “Boycott Israel” . Colored with a horde of Palestinian flags, the crowd then headed towards the Gare du Midi, punctuating their march with “Free, free, Palestine” or “Europe complicit”, among other slogans.
Organized by around forty civil society associations, unions and NGOs, including the Belgian-Palestinian association, the Union of Jewish Progressives of Belgium (UPJB), CNCD-11.11.11, the Christian Workers’ Movement (MOC), Vie Féminine, the FGTB or even the CSC, the march started at 2:30 p.m. from Brussels-North station. Arriving in front of the Gare du Midi, the demonstration then gave rise to several speeches which will take place from 4:30 p.m.
“The State of Israel is committing an attempted genocide against the Palestinian people,” declared Franco-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri, present at the demonstration. According to him, the European Union, which gives the green light to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is complicit.
“Today, thousands of us are in the streets of the capital of Europe to demand an immediate ceasefire to the massacres committed in Palestine. There will be no second Nakba” (a term referring to the Palestinian exodus of 1948, editor’s note), he added.
The socialist and figure in the associative world, Pierre Galand, also spoke at the gathering. He described the bombings committed by Israel against the Palestinian population as “crimes against humanity”, and called on international leaders to respond to put an end to this “ignominy”.
The speakers insisted on the importance of the support of the Belgian State and the EU for the ongoing investigation at the International Criminal Court, “so that the war criminals are judged”. Submitted Thursday by around a hundred organizations and some 300 lawyers, the investigation aims to determine whether the massacres committed in Gaza amount to genocide.
During the speech, the Union of Jewish Progressives of Belgium (UPJB) also recalled the importance of not confusing “anti-Semitism and criticism of the State of Israel”.
“Belgium has already taken several positions which go in the right direction, including the request for a humanitarian ceasefire and support for the investigation at the International Criminal Court,” declared the spokesperson for the Belgian-Palestinian Association, Gregory Mauzé. “But the Belgian state and the EU can go further, in particular by imposing a military embargo on Israel or by implementing sanctions against the latter, in order to force it to put an end to the occupation, the colonization, and Israeli apartheid imposed on the Palestinians, otherwise the cycles of violence will continue,” he added.
According to the latest estimates published by the Hamas Ministry of Health, 11,078 people, including 4,506 children, have been killed in Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war triggered by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s attack against Hebrew State, on October 7, which left 1,200 dead according to Israel.
On Friday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron “urged Israel to stop” the bombings killing civilians in Gaza, in an interview with the BBC.
Israel has announced a “tactical” pause in the fighting and is planning two evacuation corridors. “Military activities” were interrupted between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for “humanitarian purposes,” the Israeli army published on Saturday on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
The event in pictures:
21,000 people participate in the march in solidarity with Palestine in Brussels on Saturday ©AFP or licensors21,000 people participate in the march in solidarity with Palestine in Brussels on SaturdayBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate in the march in solidarity with Palestine in Brussels on Saturday BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate on Saturday in the march in solidarity with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate on Saturday in the march in solidarity with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate in the march in solidarity on Saturday with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate on Saturday in the march in solidarity with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate on Saturday in the march in solidarity with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people participate on Saturday in the march in solidarity with Palestine in BrusselsBELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER21,000 people take part in the march in solidarity with Palestine in Brussels on Saturday ©AFP or licensors
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