Some 70,000 people demonstrated this Saturday afternoon in Barcelona in favor of Palestine, according to the organizers, while the Urban Police counted 19,000.
More than 200 entities, organizations and social movements in Catalonia have joined and have marched with the leading slogan 'Let's stop the genocide in Palestine' at the confluence of Passeig de Gràcia with Diagonal Avenue and have walked down the promenade to Gran Via, where different speeches and slogans such as 'Gaza, Gaza, you are not alone' and 'Boycott Israel' have been given.
The manifesto condemns Israel's bombings and various attacks on the population of Gaza "and the repression to which it subjects the Palestinian people throughout historic Palestine." He also calls on governments to "stop being complicit in this televised massacre and have the courage to oppose the different powers that support the Israeli military occupation."
The protesters have carried signs with messages such as 'Israel murders and Europe sponsors', 'Stop Holocaust in Gaza', 'Gaza resists, Palestine exists', among others, as well as photos of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the inscription 'Criminal War ' or t-shirts with the slogan 'Totes som palestines'.
Carrying dozens of Palestinian flags, although also those of other countries in the area, such as Lebanon, they shout slogans such as 'Boycott Israel' and 'Zionist State, terrorist state'.
At one point, a group of protesters tried to display a flag from the façade of the emblematic Pedrera, by Antoni Gaudí, which is located right next to the Representative office of the European Commission in Barcelona. The wind, however, prevented the activists from completely hanging the flag before the intervention of monument security members.
The mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has condemned "any act of violence or targeting of people or property", in reference to the occupation this morning of a hotel linked to Israeli capital by pro-Palestinian people.
In a note on social networks, the mayor of Barcelona noted that "we are living in a very difficult and overwhelming moment in the Middle East." Beyond this conflict, Collboni added that Barcelona is a city that promotes "respect for human rights and peace between peoples."
For her part, the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau has called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, considering that "crimes against humanity" are being perpetrated. She stated this in statements to the press during the beginning of the march in favor of the Palestinian people.
Colau has said that the end of the bombings must be the "priority" because it represents "a massive violation of human rights" on a population of two million people, of which one million are children, he recalled. "We do not normalize barbarism: 1,700 children have been murdered by the bombs of the state of Israel," she said.
In turn, the leader of the Commons has condemned "all violence", including the attacks by Hamas, but recalled that this organization "is not the Palestinian population and barbarism is not responded to with barbarity." She has also demanded the well-being of the hostages kidnapped in Gaza and that the European institutions take "all possible actions to get Israel to stop the bombing of the Gaza Strip."
