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LILLE, France, March 27 (AFP) – Between 500 and 2,000 people including members of a Jewish group held a silent march in the northern French city of Lille on Saturday in support of the Palestinians after the killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin by Israeli forces this week.
The organisers of the demonstration – the France-Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS), the Union of French Jews for Peace, and the Association of French Muslims – said 2,000 people took part. Police put the number at about 500.
Many marchers wore white armbands – the colour of mourning in Islam – and some pushed a wheelchair bearing a photo of the 67-year-old handicapped sheikh.
“We wanted to hold a silent demonstration because today there is no point in shouting or getting excited. It is no longer enough to condemn orchestrated assassinations by the Israeli government, we must act for the Palestinian people who are dying every day,” said Nabil el-Haggar, a spokesman for AFPS.
The demonstration coincided with larger rallies in several Arab cities, including the Moroccan capital, Rabat, the city of Taez in southern Yemen, and Jenin, on the West Bank.
About 250 Greeks and Palestinians also demonstrated in Athens, where they burned an Israeli flag and shouted slogans against “Israeli terrorism.”
© AFP
Subject: French news