Sunday, March 31, 2024

Berlin police crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrators, assault woman

Muslim woman assaulted and arrested by police during protest at Central Train Station against Israel's onslaught on Gaza

Zeynep Çetin |30.03.2024 -


BERLIN

German police on Saturday cracked down harshly on pro-Palestinian protesters inside Berlin’s Central Train Station, including assaulting a Muslim woman, as captured by video at the scene.

In video posted on X, multiple police officers can be seen surrounding a woman in Muslim clothing, forcing her to the ground, and holding her down. The woman shouts and says: “What is this? What are you doing?”

They continue to hold her down though she does not seem to pose any threat, and she was arrested.

Demonstrators at the station chanted slogans in support of Palestine, and clashes broke out between protesters and police. Police detained some protesters using harsh methods.

The demonstration was unauthorized and was blocking passengers, and some demonstrators were detained for shouting criminal slogans, police said in a statement.

Thousands of people cancel Easter celebrations in Sweden, march in support of Gaza


March 31, 2024 

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather with banners and Palestinian flags in the downtown for a rally against Israel’s war on Gaza in Stockholm, Sweden on 30 March, 2024 [Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency]

Thousands of people in the Swedish capital Stockholm canceled Easter celebrations in solidarity with the people of Gaza and demonstrated in support of Palestine on Saturday, Anadolu news agency reported.

Approximately 5,000 demonstrators gathered in Stockholm’s Odenplan district on the call of many non-governmental organizations, demanding Israel stop the war crimes in Gaza.

Along with banners reading “Children are being killed in Gaza”, “Stop the genocide” and “Palestine forever,” the demonstrators carried models of children killed in Gaza.

They also chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine”, “End the occupation” and “Murderer Israel”.

Writer and activist Samuel Girma, who participated in the demonstration, told Anadolu that Israel should not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö, Sweden on 11 May.

“Israel does not deserve to participate in Eurovision. A murderous and genocidal country cannot participate in a music contest. Israel is a genocidal country,” Girma said.

'Stop the genocide': Thousands take to streets in London in solidarity with Gaza


March 30, 2024 

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather to stage protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza as a national march for the 11th time is organized calling for an urgent ceasefire for Gaza on March 30, 2024 in London, United Kingdom on March 30, 2024.
 [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]

A large number of people gathered in the British capital on Saturday to protest Israeli attacks and demand an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

Thousands of protesters gathered in central Russell Square for the 11th national march in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where nearly 33,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks since Oct. 7.

Carrying Palestinian flags, the protesters called for an immediate cease-fire while harshly criticizing the British government’s stance on Israel.

“Rishi Sunak, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” was one of many slogans chanted by pro-Palestine protesters during the march that ended at the landmark Trafalgar Square.

Along the march route, a small group of pro-Israeli protesters staged a demonstration to cause disturbances. Some pro-Palestine protesters were arrested in front of a pro-Israeli demonstration.

Protesters from various anti-Israel Jewish groups were among the participants in the rally.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed.

More than 32,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, in addition to mass destruction, displacement and famine conditions.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.


Jordan faces rising protests over Gaza war

'Rioters' arrested at the Baqaa camp as security forces disperse protest in Amman


The Baqaa refugee camp near Amman. EPA 
IT'S NOT A CAMP IT'S A CITY

Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Amman
Mar 31, 2024


Jordanian security forces have arrested people who rioted at a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman, as authorities seek to contain the effects of the Gaza-Israel war in the kingdom.

Riot police also dispersed an overnight demonstration at a main intersection in the Rabiah neighbourhood in Amman, where the Israeli embassy is located. Two members of the country's professional unions were arrested, as well as dozens of protesters, residents said.

The intersection, as well as the Baqaa camp, just north of Amman, has been a main centre of unrest linked to the war, with rallies in support of Gaza having renewed over the last week.

The Internal Security Directorate said that authorities will deal firmly with anyone who undermines the security of society.

It said an unspecified number of men were arrested in Baqaa after “committing rioting and sabotage”, including burning tires and throwing stones at passing cars.

Authorities have been allowing limited anti-Israeli protests in Jordan since the war started on October 7. At the same time, they have sought preserve the country's image as a bastion of stability aligned with the West, despite a grass roots boycott of European and American goods and services.

But security forces have stepped up arrests of figures seen as stirring unrest, particularly those linked with the Muslim Brotherhood, diplomats and rights groups said. Two members of the Islamic Action Front Party, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood were detained earlier this weekend.

Hamas, the militant group that started the current war, is linked to the group, although Iran has become its main military supporter in the past two decades.

READ MORE
Gaza war's impact on West Bank threatens to spill over into Jordan

Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel and is dependent on the US for aid and security. A large proportion of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin.

Nonetheless, there has been widespread outrage at the Israeli invasion of Gaza among Jordanian 'east bankers' – the tribes and clans who were present in what became the British protectorate of Transjordan in 1921.

Over the last week, pro-Gaza rallies have picked up in Jordan, with demonstrators calling for the abrogation of the 1994 peace treaty with Israel. The treaty is a cornerstone of the country's foreign policy, a prerogative of King Abdullah II, who holds all significant powers in the kingdom.

A resident of Baqaa, who did not want to be named, said that young men carrying stones closed the main motorway to Amman, which runs parallel to the camp, forcing motorists to take side roads that go through the camp.

The camp is home to 140,000 registered Palestinian refugees, many of whom have Jordanian nationality. It is also a reservoir of skilled, blue collar labour in Jordan.

In Rabieh, a resident said security forces have been pressuring the demonstrators to prevent them from keeping up the protests past midnight.

“They don't want round the clock rallies,” she said.

The demonstrations have been mainly organised by the Muslim Brotherhood, although non-brotherhood sympathisers have been showing up. The group, unlike in most of the rest of the Arab Middle East, is tolerated in Jordan.


Calls for more Jordan protests against Gaza war, Israel ties

Recent protests have seen rare clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the capital and in Jordan's largest Palestinian refugee camp.


The New Arab Staff
31 March, 2024

Recent protests have seen rare clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the capital and in Jordan's largest Palestinian refugee camp [Getty]


Activists in Jordan called for further protests on Sunday after days of demonstrations that have brought thousands onto the streets against the war in Gaza and the country's peace treaty with Israel.

Jordan, where nearly half the population is of Palestinian origin, has seen regular rallies in Amman and elsewhere in solidarity with Gaza since Israel's military onslaught began on 7 October.

Recent protests have seen rare clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the capital and in Jordan's largest Palestinian refugee camp.

The group Jordanian Youth Gathering urged people to return later Sunday to the Israeli embassy in Amman "to support the resistance in Gaza and demand the cancellation of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty and cut all ties with Israel".

In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab country, after Egypt in 1979, to sign a peace treaty with Israel.


"No to a Zionist embassy on Jordanian territory", read one banner at Saturday's embassy protest, where people have gathered every evening since the holy Muslim month of Ramadan began more than two weeks ago.

Jordan police beat, arrest protesters near Israeli embassy
The New Arab Staff & Agencies

Security forces said on Sunday they had arrested a number of protesters 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Amman at the Beqaa refugee camp.

Public security spokesman Amer Al-Sartaawi said in a statement that a "number of rioters" were arrested after "acts of rioting and vandalism, setting fires, and hurling stones at vehicles on the public road".

A second statement later Sunday said women were among an unspecified number of people arrested at a protest the previous night near the Israeli embassy who had also caused disturbances and "attempted to assault" security forces.

"The Public Security Directorate will continue its professional work in maintaining security and community peace" while allowing "citizens to express their opinions in accordance with the laws", it said.


Can Jordan ever escape Israel's grip on water resources?
In-depth
Mohammad Ersan

Beqaa camp, home to more than 100,000 Palestinians, is one of six camps set up to house the influx of refugees who fled the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.

Jordan has 2.2 million people who have been registered by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Many have been granted Jordanian citizenship.

Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 32,782 people, mostly women and children.



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