Another wave of protests swept across Europe over the weekend, June 14-15, as hundreds of thousands demanded an end to the genocide in Palestine and European complicity in Israel’s war crimes. The demonstrations also expressed support for ongoing efforts to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, breaking attendance records in many locations. Notably, more than 150,000 people marched in The Hague, while over 110,000 took to the streets in Brussels.
Read more: From solidarity to action: The Global March to Gaza unites the world against Israel’s genocide
“If the cabinet had stopped its political, economic, and military support to Netanyahu’s war government earlier, we would not be standing here again today,” said Michiel Servaes of Oxfam Novib, one of the organizers of the Netherlands protest. “More than 150,000 people wearing red – and a vast majority of all Dutch – want concrete sanctions to stop the genocide in Gaza. Demissionary or not – we demand action from our government now.”
A central theme across the continent was criticism of governments that continue to export military goods to Israel or ignore their responsibility to prevent genocide. In Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) focused on Keir Starmer’s ongoing cooperation with Israel, particularly in light of Israel’s latest attacks on Iran. “We demand the British government stop arming Israel, call for an immediate end to genocide, and say no to a wider war,” the PSC stated ahead of the mobilizations.
Protesters also condemned the European Union’s refusal to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which funnels millions of euros into Israel’s occupation apparatus. In Zagreb, suspending the Agreement, as well as ending all diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, was among the central demands. Organizers, including the Free Palestine Initiative, Students for Gaza, and groups from the peace and antifascist movements, denounced the Croatian government’s ongoing arms trade with Israel and its failure to take a stand against the genocide.
“A red line to all countries that continue to supply Israel with weapons,” stated the Handala Association in Belgium, describing the message of the Brussels protest. “A red line against double standards. A red line against all governments refusing to impose a military and economic embargo on Israel, including Belgium.”
In France, protests were carried out in nearly 150 locations, demanding government action to ensure the release of French citizens from the Freedom Flotilla’s Madleen, who were still detained by Israel at the time. Despite what left leaders described as a coordinated sidelining of media coverage following the return of MEP Rima Hassan, the demonstrations drew over 150,000 participants in Paris alone in support of Palestine and the broader international solidarity movement.
Read more: Indian police attack students during march against Israeli blockade on Gaza
Throughout the weekend, the scale and intensity of the protests made clear that public anger is mounting over Europe’s support for Israel’s impunity and its contribution to the global arms race. While regional governments remain complicit in Israel’s war crimes, people across Europe are demanding peace – specifically, as the PSC declared, a kind of peace that “can only be achieved by ending Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, dismantling Israel’s settler-colonial, apartheid regime, and when Palestinians achieve freedom, justice, and return.”
Demonstrations also unfolded in Germany and Switzerland earlier in the week. In Zurich, the protest came after railway occupations opposing the genocide. Anticipating similar actions, police attacked the Zurich demonstration with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets.
