TEHRAN: Tens of thousands of Iranians marched in the capital of Tehran on Friday to mark Jerusalem Day, an annual show of support for the Palestinians.
Senior Iranian officials attended the rally, including President Ebrahim Raisi.
Since Iran’s revolution in 1979, the rallies marking what is also known as Al-Quds Day have typically been held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it to its capital. The Palestinians seek the eastern part of Jerusalem as a future capital.
Jerusalem is the home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam.
Raisi said that Friday’s rallies show the “liberation of Al-Quds is very close, closer than expected,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
They also show Palestinian militant groups fighting Israel that “they are not alone,” Raisi added.
FASTFACT
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf told demonstrators that Israel is the ‘root’ of problems in the region.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Qalibaf told demonstrators that Israel is the “root” of problems in the region and that Palestinian fighters are hindering Israel’s plans.
Demonstrators in Tehran marched on Friday from 10 different directions to Tehran University’s campus, where the ceremony ended in time for Friday noon prayers.
Iranian state TV showed footage of similar rallies in other cities and towns across the country.
Many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and the banner of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Demonstrators in some places set fire to effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reza Masoumi, 63, a retired teacher, said he participated the rallies to remind Israel that “they cannot suppress Palestinians. We Iranians stand by Palestine.”
Fatemeh Yasrebi, a 20-year-old student, said she supports Palestinians “until Israel withdraws from (the) occupied lands of Palestinians. Peace between Muslim nations and Israel is impossible.”
State TV has in recent days broadcast footage of Israeli police storming Palestinian worshippers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
