BarcelonaLondon police detained a total of 890 people on Saturday in the British Parliament Square in favor of the Palestine Action collective, according to Scotland Yard sources on Sunday. Specifically, 857 people were arrested to simply express their support for the collective and the remaining 33 to assault agents and star in other public order crimes. Among the detainees are many elderly and even a religious, the 83 -year -old Reverenda Sue Parfitt, who was saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Last July, the British government legalized Palestine Action and declared the “ terrorist organization ” collective for vandalized two aircraft from a military base of the British air forces and for blocked the entry of Israeli defense company Elbit Systems in Bristol, in southwest of England. Following the legalization of the group, being a member of Palestine Action or supporting it is considered a crime in the United Kingdom, penalized up to 14 years in prison, according to the terrorism law passed in 2000. In fact, on August 9, the police already detained more than 500 people for the same reason, that is, because they were in favor of this group.
The London Police Deputy Subcommissioner Claire Smart said that there was also a second rally in the British capital on Saturday in favor of Palestine, which brought together about 20,000 people and where almost nobody detained. The protest was organized by the Stop the War coalition in this case, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Mass protest
On the other hand, about 70,000 people, according to police calculations, rallied in central Brussels on Sunday to demand the end of any relation to Israel for the crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank. The more than 200 organizations that have called the protest calculate, however, that more than 110,000 people participated. Anyway, it has been a mass rally.
Red dresses, with handmade banners and with thousands of Palestinian flags, protesters have formed a red tide that has traveled the city from the North Station to the heart of the European district. This is the second protest of this size that takes place in the European capital. Another demonstration last June gathered about 100,000 people.
Protesters require that harsh sanctions be imposed on the Benjamin Netanyahu government and that international law is respected, and accuse the European Union of being a “accomplice” of the “Israeli regime of apartheid and genocide”.
The Belgian government has announced this week that the Palestinian state will recognize after a series of internal debates that have destabilized the conservative coalition of Prime Minister Bart de Wever. The Belgian executive also plans to review the policy of public purchases with Israeli companies, and prohibit the import of products from the Jewish country, as well as aircraft in this country to fly over the Belgian aerial space.
In Spain, PSOE and SUMAR are also negotiating measures against Israel with the intention of approving them in the Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday, but it has not transcended what kind of measures they will be.
Offensive against the city of Gaza
In the meantime, Israel continues its offensive against the city of Gaza. Another building, the third in three days, bombed this Sunday. It is a six -storey building, which has completely collapsed. On Saturday he destroyed the Al-Susi tower, and on Friday, Mushtaha Tower. The Israeli army claims that Hamas used these buildings as observation points.
Also this Sunday a drone launched by Yemen’s rebels Hathis has hit Ramon International Airport in southern Israel, and forced to interrupt operations for less than two hours, according to a spokesman for the Israeli Airport Authority.
