Thousands march silently though Paris, calling for peace in Middle East

The stars were from a variety of cultures and backgrounds and they were joined by thousands of other protesters calling for peace in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

Last week more than 180,000 people across France, 100,000 of them in Paris, marched peacefully to protest against rising anti-semitism in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Also on Sunday in Finland a pro-Palestinian rally took place in the capital Helsinki.

The demonstrators demanded an end to the killing of Palestinians – Israel has killed over 11,000 Palestinian men, women and children so far, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Israel says 383 soldiers have died since the war began.

The protesters also denounced Israel’s invasion of Gaza and Finland’s arms trade with Israel.

In Poland’s capital Warsaw on Sunday a rally in support of Israel attended by thousands  demanded the release of over 240 Israeli hostages who were seized on October 7th by Hamas.

Israel’s ambassador to Poland, the Chief Rabbi of Poland and members of Poland’s opposition parties attended.

Last week Warsaw’s mayor Rafal Trzaskowski tried to ban a pro-Palestinian march planned for Saturday on safety grounds.

The protest organisers however took the mayor to the district court which ruled in their favour and the march went ahead peacefully.

Article 19, a non-governmental group which campaigns for freedom of speech, condemned the mayor’s attempt to ban the march.