By Sam Tabahriti
LONDON (Reuters) -Pro-Palestinian protests were planned in several countries on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that led to the war in Gaza, despite warnings by some politicians that they could inflame tensions.
Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in the attack on October 7, 2023. Israel responded by launching an offensive against the Palestinian militant group in Gaza that has killed more than 67,000 people, Gaza health officials say.
Pro-Palestinian rallies were expected on Tuesday in Sydney and in European cities including London, Paris, Geneva, Athens, Thessaloniki, Istanbul and Stockholm.
‘TERRIBLE TIMING, SHOCKINGLY INSENSITIVE’
Organisers of pro-Palestinian protests over the past two years have said they were intended to spotlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and advocate for Palestinian rights.
Politicians in some countries said such protests were insensitive on the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and that they could be seen as glorifying violence.
“Terrible timing, shockingly insensitive,” Chris Minns, the premier of the Australian state of New South Wales, told radio station 2GB of the planned protest in Sydney.
In the Netherlands, pro-Palestinian activists splashed red paint on Amsterdam’s Royal Palace in protest that the city mayor has banned a pro-Palestinian rally while permitting a pro-Israeli event.
In Turkey, a protest was expected outside an energy company over its exports to Israel. In Sweden, demonstrators were expected to welcome back participants of a Gaza aid flotilla detained by Israel, including climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Authorities have banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the northern Italian city of Bologna, citing the risk of unrest, after days of protests and clashes with police across Italy.
“The demonstration will be absolutely prohibited,” Enrico Ricci, the local prefect in Bologna, told reporters.
PROTESTS PROMPTED BY HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN GAZA
In London, university students were expected to march, and protests were planned elsewhere in Britain.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the planned protests as “un-British” and said Britain had become “indifferent” to antisemitism.
Some protesters had used the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza as an “despicable excuse to attack British Jews for something over which they have absolutely no responsibility,” he said.
The dire humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza has prompted marches and protests attended by millions globally in the last two years.
Governments have had to find a balance between granting the right to protest and the need to protect Jewish communities who have felt targeted by the demonstrations and have reported a rise in antisemitic incidents since the October 7 attack.
Tensions in Britain have also been inflamed by an attack at a synagogue last week in which two men were killed, and Jewish communities have stepped up security at places of worship.
(Writing by Sam Tabahriti; Additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amsterdam, Inti Landauro in Brussels and Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul, Editing by Kate Holton and Timothy Heritage)
