Thousands of protesters marched in cities across Europe Saturday to demand an end to Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, a day before Israeli troops launched a ground offensive into the densely populated territory. Hundreds of Turks demonstrated outside the Israeli and United Nations missions in Istanbul and Ankara overnight in protest at Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza, media reports said.
Hundreds of people, carrying Turkish and Israeli flags, marched to the Israeli consulate in the business district of Levent, in Istanbul’s European side, reports said. “Shut down the Zionist embassy, Palestine is not alone,” chanted the protestors, who also burned an Israeli flag. On Saturday, thousands of people took to the streets in Germany, Britain, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey to protest Israel’s air raids on the Gaza Strip and demand an end to the military action.
