PARIS: Several thousand people demonstrated in Paris on Saturday under the rallying cry “Stop the massacre in Gaza.”
The left-wing organizers called for France to “demand an immediate ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas militants.
“I came to support the Palestinian cause, for a ceasefire in Gaza,” said engineer Ahlem Triki, a Palestinian flag over her shoulders.
Hamas’s shock October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel and 239 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The Israeli air and ground military campaign in response has left more than 11,000 people in Gaza dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
“It is elementary that as activists or simple citizens, you go out on to the street to support the Palestinian people,” said 85-year-old trade unionist Claude Marill.
French MPs Mathilde Panot and Eric Coquerel, whose hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party has come under fire for an ambiguous stance on anti-Semitism, were present at the march.
Gaza ceasefire rallies also took place in other French towns including Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes and Bordeaux.
“This mobilization is essential, in the face of massacres,” said LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard at the demonstration of about 1,300 people in Marseille.
In Lyon, a Palestinian event promoting two books by a surgeon who regularly works in Gaza was attacked by ultra-right militants, leaving at least three people with minor injuries, according to police and witnesses Saturday evening.
The author Christophe Oberline told AFP the group, armed with batons, tried to storm the gathering, attempting to break down the door to the hall although failed to get in.
Organizer Jerome Fayner said the attack was by the “extreme right,” and added they were also armed with iron bars and glass bottles.
At least one person was arrested, the police prefecture said, adding they “strongly condemned the violence committed.”
Paris protesters call for Gaza ceasefire
https://arab.news/cjhtj
Paris protesters call for Gaza ceasefire
- The left-wing organizers called for France to “demand an immediate cease-fire“
- “I came to support the Palestinian cause, for a cease-fire in Gaza,” said engineer Ahlem Triki
Hungary says it will block a key EU loan to Ukraine until Russian oil shipments resume
- Szijjártó said: “As long as Ukraine blocks the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary, Hungary will block European Union decisions that are important and favorable for Ukraine”
- Hungary’s decision to block the key funding came two days after it suspended diesel shipments
BUDAPEST: Hungary will block a planned 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) European Union loan to Ukraine until the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline resumes, Hungary’s foreign minister said.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian drone attack damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have both received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, have accused Ukraine — without providing evidence — of deliberately holding up supplies. Both countries ceased shipping diesel to Ukraine this week over the interruption in oil flows .
In a video posted on social media Friday evening, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused Ukraine of “blackmailing” Hungary by failing to restart shipments. He said his government would block a massive interest-free loan the EU approved in December to help Kyiv to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.
“We will not give in to this blackmail. We do not support Ukraine’s war, we will not pay for it,” Szijjártó said. “As long as Ukraine blocks the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary, Hungary will block European Union decisions that are important and favorable for Ukraine.”
Hungary’s decision to block the key funding came two days after it suspended diesel shipments to its embattled neighbor and only days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia — both EU and NATO members — have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long argued Russian fossil fuels are indispensable for its economy and that switching to energy sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse — an argument some experts dispute.
Widely seen as the Kremlin’s biggest advocate in the EU, Orbán has vigorously opposed the bloc’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion, and blasted attempts to hit Russia’s energy revenues that help finance the war. His government has frequently threatened to veto EU efforts to assist Ukraine.
On Saturday, Slovakia’s populist Prime minister Robert Fico said his country will stop providing emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine if oil is not flowing through the Druzhba by Monday. Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, said earlier this week that Hungary, too, was exploring the possibility of cutting off its electricity supplies to Ukraine.
Not all of the EU’s 27 countries agreed to take part in the 90-billion-euro loan package for Kyiv. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic opposed the plan, but a deal was reached in which they did not block the loan and were promised protection from any financial fallout.
