Islamabad, April 6 (RHC)-- Massive demonstrations took place on Friday -- International Quds Day -- marking the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan. Mass rallies were held in support of the Palestinian people and their decades-long resistance against the Israeli occupation regime.
The largest demonstrations were held in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, and the occupied West Bank, as well as in India, Bahrain and South Africa. Thousands of people marched across Pakistan on Friday to mark Quds Day and express solidarity with Palestinians, while condemning Israel's ongoing atrocities against people in the besieged Gaza Strip and other parts of Palestine.
Carrying Pakistani and Palestinian flags, the marchers in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar chanted anti-Israel slogans and urged the Muslim world to join hands against Tel Aviv.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a message on the occasion of Quds Day that his entire nation condemns the Israeli oppression, expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Sharif called on the international community to play its role in pressuring Israel to stop its brutal aggression against the Palestinians.
Demonstrations were also held in support of Palestine in several areas of Indian-administered Kashmir, where public rallies have become a rarity after New Delhi abrogated the region's autonomy in August 2019.
The biggest rally was held in Budgam district, where people carried pro-Palestine and anti-Israel placards. Indian Muslims, ranging from infants to aged senior civilians, staged a rally in Mumbai to condemn the Israeli occupying regime’s ongoing massacre in Gaza.
Thousands of Iraqi people flocked to the streets in the capital Baghdad and across the country’s major cities on Friday in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of Yemenis also held a demonstration in Sana’a in solidarity with Palestinians in the besieged territory as Israel presses on with its months-long aggression.
The protesters voiced anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiments through their chants. “We are here today to support the Palestinian people on Quds Day; we are also condemning the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli enemy against the Palestinians and our message to our leader is that we are with you, we will not let you down and we all fight by your side to support Palestine," said Saleh Mohamed, a participant in the rally.
Lebanese people marched in the capital of Beirut and in the southern city of Sidon to mark the annual Quds Day. "This (day) is not meaningful for Palestinians only, but for all Muslims and Arabs in general. Everyone, Muslim and Arabs, should care about this day, because the occupied al-Quds is not just for us, Palestinians, it is for all of us Arabs and Muslims," said Jamile Youssef, one of the demonstrators.
Dozens of protesters took to the streets in the village of Duraz in northern Bahrain to mark Quds Day, with marchers symbolically stepping on US and Israeli flags while chanting slogans, such as "Death to America,” and "Death to Israel.”
Several regions in Bahrain also witnessed rallies in commemoration of Quds Day. "Quds Day is a universal day to support the oppressed against the oppressor," one banner read in English.
This year’s rallies take place as Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip have been under Israel’s incessant bombardment campaign since Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, the largest military operation by Palestinian resistance groups against the occupied territories in decades.
More than 180 days into the war, the illegal entity has achieved no objectives despite killing at least 33,091 people in Gaza and injuring 75,750 others, mostly women and children.
Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.
