Zürcher Nachrichten - Rallies against Israel interception of Gaza flotilla sweep Europe

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona last month to challenge Israel's blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations reports famine conditions after nearly two years of the Israel-Hamas war, before being intercepted by Israel from Wednesday.

Forty-one ships with more than 400 people aboard, including politicians and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, were halted by the Israeli navy and prevented from reaching the coastal territory, an Israeli official said Thursday.

Some 15,000 people marched through Barcelona in protest at Israel's actions, according to the municipal police force in Spain's second city, chanting slogans including "Gaza, you are not alone", "Boycott Israel" and "Freedom for Palestine".

Riot police beat back a portion of the protesters who attempted to climb over barriers with truncheons, forcing them to retreat, images broadcast on Spanish public television showed.

A boat carrying former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau was among those prevented from proceeding. Colau and her fellow activists, including Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, face deportation by Israel.

Around 10,000 people took part in a similar protest in Madrid, local officials said. Protests were held in other Spanish cities Thursday night including Bilbao, Seville and Valencia.

Around a thousand people marched in Paris's Place de la Republique, an AFP journalist saw, while in the port city of Marseille, in southern France, around a hundred pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in the afternoon after attempting to block access to offices of weapons maker Eurolinks, accused of selling military components to Israel.

In Italy, where the country's main unions have called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the flotilla, thousands took to the streets to urge Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to defend the activists.

"We are prepared to block everything. The genocidal machine must stop immediately," the demonstrators chanted.

- 'Intolerable' -

One protester, 76-year-old Gianfranco Pagliarulo, told AFP that Meloni had not done enough to deter Israel.

Although Italy sent a frigate for the Global Sumud Flotilla's protection en route, the far-right premier urged the fleet to turn back and the naval vessel did not accompany the activists past Israel's declared blockade.

"Instead of defending the victims, the government is defending the aggressors, and it's absolutely intolerable," said Pagliarulo.

Around 3,000 demonstrators also took to the front of the European Parliament building in Brussels, with one banner urging the EU to "break the siege" as smoke bombs and crackers were set off in the crowd.

"The message is that each boat must be protected," a protester named Isis told AFPTV at the demonstration, urging the European Union's leadership to halt the "astronomical sums of money sent to Israel" through the bloc's agreements with the Middle Eastern country.

A similar-sized crowd rallied in Geneva, according to an AFP journalist at the scene and Swiss broadcasters, with the mostly young protesters lighting a bonfire near the central station.

The protesters then headed to the Swiss city's Mont Blanc bridge, at the end of Lake Geneva, to be met by a line of police in riot gear, who pushed the demonstrators back after brief clashes.

"We are very upset... Upset, angry, disgusted because what they are doing is for humanity," said Ili Farhan, 43.

"They are just bringing in aid and baby food... this arrest is unjust."

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U.Ammann--NZN