. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .
An article from the New Arab
Tens of thousands of people dressed in red marched through the streets of The Hague on Sunday (June 15) to demand more action from the Dutch government against Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza, calling it a genocide.
(Editor’s note: the following video of the three-mile march supports claims that there were 150,000 people and that it was the largest demonstration in the Netherlands in this century.)
Video copied from twitter account of Rutger Bregman
Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Oxfam organised the demonstration through the city to the International Court of Justice, creating a so-called “red line”.
Many waving Palestinian flags and some chanting “Stop the Genocide”, the demonstrators turned a central park in the city into a sea of red on a sunny afternoon.
Protesters brandished banners reading “Don’t look away, do something”, “Stop Dutch complicity”, and “Be silent when kids sleep, not when they die”.
Organisers urged the Dutch government – which collapsed on 3 June after a far-right party pulled out of a fragile coalition – to do more to rein in Israel.
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How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?
How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?
How can we best express solidarity with the people of Gaza?
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“People in Gaza cannot wait and the Netherlands has a duty to do everything it can to stop the genocide,” they said in their call to action.
Dodo Van Der Sluis, a 67-year-old pensioner, told AFP: “It has to stop. Enough is enough. I can’t take it anymore.”
“I’m here because I think it’s maybe the only thing you can do now as a Dutch citizen, but it’s something you have to do,” she added.
A previous protest in The Hague on 18 May drew more than 100,000 people, according to organisers, who described it as the country’s largest demo in 20 years.
Police did not give an estimate for that demonstration.
Israel began waging a war on the Gaza Strip on7 October, 2023, in response to a surprise attack launched by Hamas. Israel’s actions have been decried globally over the months, with many experts labelling it as a genocide against the Palestinian people.
Israel’s military operation has killed at least 55,207 people, the majority of them civilians.
The International Court of Justice is currently weighing a case brought by South Africa against Israel, arguing its actions in Gaza breach the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
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