Tens of Thousands Rally in London to Support Palestinians

Protesters display a large Palestinian flag in Parliament Square after taking part in a 'March For Palestine' in London on October 28, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
Protesters display a large Palestinian flag in Parliament Square after taking part in a 'March For Palestine' in London on October 28, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Rally in London to Support Palestinians

Protesters display a large Palestinian flag in Parliament Square after taking part in a 'March For Palestine' in London on October 28, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
Protesters display a large Palestinian flag in Parliament Square after taking part in a 'March For Palestine' in London on October 28, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have turned out on London’s streets for a second straight weekend to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
Fireworks and red and green flares were lit as huge crowds massed Saturday on the banks of the River Thames.
Mohammed Ullah, an engineer, said he was surprised politicians and governments are “not stopping this genocide against the Gaza people.”
“Yes, it was a crime by Hamas. But at the same time, what the Israelis are doing, this is genocide. And these children should not be killed and murdered and they don’t deserve to be treated like this,” Ullah said.
Demonstrations also took place Saturday in Indonesia, Pakistan, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland.

Hundreds of protesters demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas forced the closure on Friday of Grand Central Terminal, one of New York City's major transit hubs, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

Images on social media showed protesters pouring out of the train station and onto 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, and a large crowd being detained by law enforcement.
The group Jewish Voice for Peace, which organized the demonstration, posted a video on Instagram showing police in the station escorting a long line of protesters, who were wearing shirts reading "Cease Fire Now" and "Not In Our Name" with their arms secured behind their backs.
"HUNDREDS OF JEWS AND ALLIES ARE GETTING ARRESTED IN WHAT IS LIKELY THE BIGGEST MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE NYC HAS SEEN IN TWO DECADES," the group wrote in the post.



Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".