MADRID, Spain: Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through Madrid on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in war-torn Gaza and the severing of ties between Spain and Israel.
Authorities said there were around 4,000 of them, and protesters held up banners and signs condemning the “genocide” in Gaza and praising the “resistance” of the Palestinian people.
Palestinians were “crammed” into southern Gaza and “now they are again displaced from one place to another, while there are no safe places left,” said Jaldia Abubakra, 57, referring to Israeli evacuation orders in the city of Rafah.
About 30 organizations called the rally ahead of the 76th anniversary of what Palestinians call the “Nakba” (“catastrophe”), when 760,000 people fled their homes during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel’s creation.
Spanish students have set up peaceful sit-ins and encampments at universities in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia in recent days, mirroring similar pro-Palestinian campus movements in the United States and Europe.
Earlier this week, Spanish universities expressed their willingness to cut ties with any Israeli educational institution that failed to express a “clear commitment to peace.”
Spain is one of the harshest critics of Israel in Europe and is at the forefront of efforts to recognize a Palestinian state.
The war in Gaza began with an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.
