Thousands of people once again took to the streets of several cities across the country, at the call of the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine (RESCOP). A few minutes before 6 p.m., hundreds of Palestinian flags dyed the area around Atocha, where the demonstration in Madrid began. Organizers took advantage of this first anniversary since Israel’s massacre began, on October 7, 2023, to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire as more than 41,500 people have been killed in Gaza since.
To achieve this, they demanded that the government chaired by Pedro Sánchez put an end to the trade in arms and military and security technologies with Israel, in addition to holding it accountable “for its crimes against humanity,” they said. defended during RESCOP. “The government buys equipment from Israel that has been tested in combat, that is, by massacring Palestinians. With our money, they finance the genocide,” denounced Hania Faydi, member of the Boycott, Divestment and Blockade of Israel (BDS) in Madrid, an organization that is part of RESCOP, a few minutes after the start of the march.
The Network also called for severing diplomatic, institutional, economic, sporting and cultural relations with Israel, as well as “ending the persecution and criminalization of solidarity with Palestine and repealing the Gag Law.” As Faydi explains, “this time we also showed solidarity with the Lebanese people. In just one week, Israel killed 1,500 people in Lebanon,” he explained as slogans such as “Palestine will win, from the river to the sea” and “Israel kills, Europe sponsors” continued. be repeated during the walk.
From his point of view, the fact that the Spanish state recognized Palestine is “a big step because it makes Israel uncomfortable, but it is not enough.” “This has nothing to do with the end of the genocide, the dismantling of apartheid on the Palestinian population and the right of return of the more than six million refugees,” he added.
Likewise, this spokesperson stressed that “the level of normalization achieved is worrying”, because “we have bought a discourse in which Israel is a friendly country, a democracy in the Middle East, while it is impossible for a democracy to exist on a genocide and a system of occupation and domination.
