Thousands of people took to the streets this Sunday in protests organized for the second day in a row in cities like Barcelona, Madrid or Valencia ask the end of the “genocide” in Gazaset to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The biggest demonstration took place in Barcelonawhere thousands of people – 4,500 according to the Urban Guard and 30,000 according to the organization – demanded that the “genocide” in Palestine be stopped and demanded that the government break relations with Israel and not sell it weapons.
The demonstratorsmany of them flying Palestinian flags or wearing traditional headscarves Kufiachanted slogans such as “Boycott Israel”, “Where are the sanctions against Israel, we don’t see them”, “Europe sponsors Israel’s murders», “Generalitat, prou compllicitat” or “It’s not a war, it’s a genocide”.
The Comuns-Sumar MEP, Jaume Asens, demanded that the government in this demonstration “End the policy of opacity” regarding the sale of arms to Israel. During a peaceful march, Valencia hosted another mobilization to also demand an end to the “genocide” in Palestine.
They call for an end to the arms trade
The organizers called on the government to “end the arms trade and military technology and security with Israel”, and the severance of diplomatic, institutional, economic, sporting and cultural relations with this country, as well as the demand for accountability on its part “for its war crimes and its crimes against ‘humanity”.
Madrid, which on Saturday brought together 20,000 people according to the organizers – no more than 5,000 according to the government delegation – hosted a new demonstration, less numerous, with nearly half a thousand participants, and which was described by the Israeli embassy “apologies for terrorism”.
There was also a demonstration in defense of Palestine in Malaga with around 3,000 demonstrators and where the Andalusian coordinator of Izquierda Unida and deputy of the Congress of Sumar, Toni Valero, asked the government to make effective the embargo on arms against Israel because, according to him, its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, intends to lead the Middle East into “total war”.
Other Spanish cities like Gijon, Santiago de Compostela or Palma de Mallorca Demonstrations against Israeli attacks against the Palestinian population are taking place this Sunday. In addition, Barcelona also hosts a Jewish community event on this day to commemorate the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, which sparked the war in the Middle East.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrations this Sunday come after those organized on Saturday in a thirty Spanish cities and coincides with many other events taking place throughout the weekend in various cities around the world. All this, barely a year after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered an intense Israeli offensive against Gaza during which they were already assassinated near Gaza. 42,000 people, mainly women and children.
The reactions of the king and Spanish politicians
This Sunday, during his visit to Amman (Jordan), Felipe VI criticized those who chose war rather than peace, “changing the lives of millions of innocent civilians and end lives by redrawing borders and displacing populations”, which he considers “unacceptable”. Furthermore, during the bilateral meeting held, with the King of Jordan Abdullah II, the delegations of two countries, Felipe VI expressed his Spanish affection for the Jordanian people in the difficult times that the Middle East is going through.
Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso spoke about the conflict in Gaza, saying it was “perverse and unjust” to ask Israel “to allow itself to be annihilated” and does not respond to terrorist attacks. For her part, the second vice-president of the Government, Yolande Dayz, from Sumar, asked the international community to impose “maximum sanctions now” because “there is no time to lose”, after the latest attacks in Lebanon.
“The Netanyahu regime continues its campaign of systematic violation of international law: an invasion in the north, a genocide in the south,” he lamented in a message on the social network. Ione Belarrawho stressed that “the world’s democrats must stop the genocidal state and make the elites of Europe and the United States respond by supporting it.”
