Thousands of people have taken to the streets in the British capital London to express support for the people of Palestine and to condemn the Israeli regime’s “apartheid policies” in the occupied territories.
People, cutting across the lines of religion and race, gathered outside the British Home Office on Sunday, carrying posters and posters that read “Freedom for Palestine”, “Boycott Apartheid” and “Stop Killing Palestinians.”
Orthodox Jews were among the demonstrators, who numbered more than 12,000, according to reports.
Raising Palestinian flags, the protesters marched towards Downing Street which houses British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Office.
The demonstrators denounced the continued Israeli occupation of Palestine and relentless atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied territories, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, while calling for an end to the Israeli occupation.
The protest was organized to mark International Quds Day, which is observed every year on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
Speaking at the protest, Stephen Sizer, founder and director of the Peacemaker Trust, strongly condemned the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
He stressed that the Israeli military occupation is “based on segregation, on supremacism, [and] on apartheid”, adding that it is “a colonization that involves a systematic, premeditated, ethnic cleansing in breach of international law, Geneva conventions, and UN resolutions.”
Sizer expressed hope that al-Quds would become “a city of equality, a city of tolerance, a city of mutual respect, [and] a city of justice, peace and reconciliation, not just for Palestine, but as a model and an inspiration for the entire world.”
Many other human activists also speak at the protest, urging the international community to take serious note of Israeli regime’s atrocities.
But, regrettably, while this year’s Quds Day held all over the world peacefully without any incidence of attack, tyrannical and pro-Israeli Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari, as usual, opened fire on the Shiites disciples of Sheikh Zakzaky, in Abuja and Kaduna, killing two, and wounded dozens during the peaceful protests.
This made Nigeria, the only country in the world where the Quds Day protests recorded martyrs.
International Quds Day was designated by the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Every year during Ramadan, worldwide rallies are held to support the Palestinian people’s resistance against Israel and the struggle to liberate their territories.
The annual event is seen as an opportunity for freedom-seeking people across the world, regardless of faith, to voice their support for the Palestinian cause and vent their anger at Israel.