TUNIS – Hundreds of demonstrators marched in central Tunis on Thursday to express their anger at what they described as genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a result of heavy Israeli shelling of civilian homes.
Many civil and political forces called for this demonstration, such as the Tunisian General Labor Union, the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, the National Association of Tunisian Lawyers, the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, and others.
Tunisian journalists' syndicate tells Al Jazeera "The international community is aligned with the Zionist movement that usurps the rights of Palestinians" (Al Jazeera)
Protesters' demands
The demonstrators, who initially gathered in front of the UGTT building, waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of Palestine such as "The people want the liberation of Palestine," "Resistance, resistance, no reconciliation, no compromise," and "Gaza is a symbol of pride."
The demonstrators also held up pictures of Tunisian engineer Mohamed Zouari, the engineer of Hamas drones, which are used by the resistance to strike Israeli settlements and military bases, who was assassinated in the Tunisian province of Sfax in 2016, and accuses the Israeli Mossad of being behind his assassination.
The head of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate Ziad Dabbar told Al Jazeera Net that "what is happening in Gaza is tantamount to a crime of genocide against the Palestinians, amid silence and complicity of the international community, biased to the Zionist movement that usurps the rights of Palestinians."
Al-Naqib added that what is happening in Gaza after the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation launched by the Palestinian resistance factions is an actual legitimate resistance against the Zionist entity, which has besieged the Strip for 16 years, considering that this march expresses absolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
"Today, as a national union of Tunisian journalists, we consider ourselves not only in solidarity with the Palestinians, but we also consider ourselves in a state of open war against the Zionist movement," Dabbar said.
Secretary-General of the Workers' Party of Al Jazeera Net "Tunisian people are united in their demand to criminalize normalization" (Al Jazeera)
Unite around demands
The President of the Arab Institute for Human Rights, Abdel Basset Belhassen, also considered in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that the grave violations against Palestinian civilians, including killing, displacement and targeting of buildings and infrastructure, fall within the war crimes against humanity.
Belhassen called for the protection of civilians, the cessation of attacks, and the entry of humanitarian aid, stressing that this issue cannot be resolved without full recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state.
On the other hand, opposition parties in Tunisia, such as the Workers' Party, the Democratic Current, Ettakatol, and others, called for the enactment of a law to criminalize normalization with the Zionist entity.
The Secretary-General of the Labor Party Hamma Hammami for the island net that "the Tunisian people are united in their demand to criminalize normalization with the Zionist entity," considering that the Palestinian people have no choice but to continue resistance.