Tens of thousands in Barcelona demonstrated in support of the Palestinians and in solidarity with Gaza, calling for an end to the arms trade with Israel, as part of a series of movements established in Spain, Saturday.
The demonstrators, whose police estimated about 70,000, went peacefully in the center of Barcelona, behind a giant red banner saying, “Stop the genocide in Palestine. Stop the arms trade with Israel.”
“The policy of Israel was wrong for many years, and we have to go to the street,” retired Marta Karansa, 65, who put a Palestinian flag on her back, told AFP.
“Many came to the streets when the fleet was intercepted Thursday, and today we expect” to participate is even later.
Karansa was referring to the “Global Resilience Fleet”, which included about 45 ships and boats, a large number of them sailed from Barcelona. The fleet transferred hundreds of activists and humanitarian aid with the aim of breaking the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza, before the Israeli navy intercepted it and the participants stopped in preparation for their deportation.
Among the detainees are about 50 Spanish citizens, according to Spanish Interior Minister Jose Manuel Albaris, on Saturday.
Jordi Bass (40 years old) said that the broad participation in the Saturday demonstration was expected. “People began to wake up … this is the only thing that (Palestinians) can give some hope, that is, to see the whole world moving in solidarity with them,” explained the teacher in basic education, who was waving a Palestinian science.
Calls were also issued to move, on Saturday, in several cities, most notably Madrid.
Spain witnessed wide moves in solidarity with the Palestinians against the background of the Gaza war, which broke out after Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.
In the middle of September, the last stage of the “La Voelta” bicycle Tawaf was canceled in Spain after a protest movement in which about 100,000 people participated in support of the Palestinians and rejecting the participation of an Israeli team in the race.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for preventing Israel from participating in international sporting events, similar to the decision made against Russia against the background of its invasion of Ukraine in the year 2022.
And Spain is one of the most prominent European countries critical of Israel; Because of the war in Gaza, especially in light of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation that reached the limit of the United Nations declaring famine in Gaza in August.
In September, Madrid announced the ban on imports of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
