Thousands march worldwide for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire ahead of anniversary

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world over the weekend calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.

In Washington, more than a thousand protesters demonstrated outside the White House, demanding the United States, Israel's top military supplier, stop providing weapons and aid to Israel.

One man attempted to set himself on fire, AFP journalists saw, succeeding in lighting his left arm ablaze before bystanders and police extinguished the flames.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters also gathered in cities across Europe, Africa, Australia and the Americas to demand an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza.

With Israel now mounting a ground operation in Lebanon and vowing to respond to a barrage of missiles fired by Iran this week, there are fears the conflict could spiral into a wider war.

Underlining international polarisation over events in the Middle East, demonstrations in support of both Israel and the Palestinians are planned worldwide - sometimes with rival events scheduled in the same city.

'Worse and worse' 

A pro-Palestinian protest in Rome that drew thousands of people turned violent, as dozens of young demonstrators threw bottles and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

At least one policeman was wounded and two protestors were detained, AFP journalists said.

"Israel is a criminal state!" the demonstrators shouted.

In Berlin, police said they had detained 26 people who shouted insults at a pro-Israeli commemoration attended by around 650 people.

Meanwhile, a pro-Palestinian demonstration drew just over 1,000 protestors in the German capital, police said.

At the "National March for Palestine" in London, chants of "stop bombing civilians" were joined by shouts of "hands off Lebanon".

Zackerea Bakir, 28, said he has attended dozens of marches around the United Kingdom. Large numbers continue to turn up because "everyone wants a change", he told AFP.

"It's continuing to just get worse and worse, and yet nothing seems to be changing," said Bakir, joined at the rally by his mother and brother.

While the rally in London was largely peaceful, at least 15 people were arrested, including three on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and one on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation.

In Dublin, several hundred people took to the streets, waving Palestinian flags and chanting: "Ceasefire now!".

In France, thousands of people marched in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Strasbourg to express solidarity with Palestinians, AFP journalists said.

Around 5,000 people joined a pro-Palestinian protest in Madrid, brandishing signs with messages such as "Boycott Israel".

A pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Swiss city of Basel drew several thousand people, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators also marched on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which was heavily guarded by riot police.

Soaring tension

In Cape Town in South Africa, hundreds walked to parliament, chanting: "Israel is a racist state" and "We are all Palestinian."

Pro-Gaza marches were also planned Saturday in Johannesburg and Durban.

In Caracas, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested outside the United Nations' headquarters for Venezuela, carrying a giant Palestinian flag.

They delivered a petition to the UN calling for an end to the "genocide" of the Palestinians.

"Where are the UN peacekeepers? Why haven't they intervened?" university professor Jesus Reyes, 53, told AFP.

In Indonesia, more than a thousand people gathered outside the US embassy in Jakarta for a rally on Sunday morning, an AFP journalist saw.

Organisers and public figures delivered speeches from a stage, calling for an independent Palestine and for the incoming Indonesian government to refuse the normalization of relations with Israel.

In Australia, thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors thronged the streets of Sydney and other major Australian cities, holding placards that read "stop arming Israel".

Other pro-Palestinian protests were planned over the weekend and on Monday in cities including New York, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Manila, and Karachi.