OSLO: Hundreds of people attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Oslo on Saturday ahead of Israel’s World Cup qualifier against Norway, chanting “Free Palestine” to protest against Israel’s “genocide,” AFP journalists reported.
Many demonstrators wore Palestinian keffiyeh shawls draped over their shoulders and waved Palestinian flags as they gathered in the city center before walking in a procession to the Ullevaal stadium.
Smoke flares were lit but the atmosphere remained calm.
“The message today is to say we give the red card to Israel, to apartheid, and to genocide,” said Line Khateeb, the head of the Norwegian Committee for Palestine, one of the organizers of the protest.
“We do not accept football being used to whitewash war crimes, as we see today when Israel participates in the World Cup qualification games,” she told AFP.
Demonstrators carried banners reading “Exclude Israel from International Football,” “From the River to the Sea,” “Red Card to Israel” and “It’s a Genocide, Not a War.”
“Israel has been committing genocide for the last two years and killing indiscriminately, doing the most horrible thing that could be imaginable,” one of the demonstrators, Munib Sarwar, a 40-year-old engineer, told AFP.
“We need to show solidarity with the children and the people of Gaza who have been terrorized for the last two years,” he added.
Organizers decided to go ahead with the demonstration despite the Gaza ceasefire deal reached Thursday between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“It’s not the end of the occupation. It doesn’t mean the West Bank is free. It doesn’t mean Palestine is free. We need to keep pushing and putting sanctions on Israel to hold them accountable in order to have a proper free Palestine,” Khateeb said.
Heavy security was in place for the match.
Dozens of police officers on horseback and others in riot gear were posted near the stadium, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.
The head of the Norwegian football association, Lise Klaveness, recently said she was pushing “for Israel to be sanctioned.”
“Personally, I think that if Russia is excluded, Israel should be as well,” she said in a Norwegian podcast.
Several days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, UEFA and FIFA agreed to exclude Russian teams and clubs from all international competitions, a sanction that remains in place.
The Norwegian Football Association has previously said it would donate the proceeds from the ticket sales for Saturday’s match to Doctors Without Borders.
With five victories in five matches, Norway top Group I of European qualifying with 15 points ahead of Italy and Israel, who both have nine points.
