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Pro-Palestinian Protesters Demand Gaza Ceasefire in European Marches

Protesters gather with placards and flags during the 'London Rally For Palestine' in Trafalgar Square, central London on November 4, 2023, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Protesters gather with placards and flags during the 'London Rally For Palestine' in Trafalgar Square, central London on November 4, 2023, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Pro-Palestinian Protesters Demand Gaza Ceasefire in European Marches

Protesters gather with placards and flags during the 'London Rally For Palestine' in Trafalgar Square, central London on November 4, 2023, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Protesters gather with placards and flags during the 'London Rally For Palestine' in Trafalgar Square, central London on November 4, 2023, calling for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London, Berlin and Paris on Saturday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza after a week when Israel's military intensified their assault against Hamas.

In London, television footage showed large crowds holding sit-down protests blocking Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, before marching to and gathering in Trafalgar Square.

Protesters held "Freedom for Palestine" placards and chanted "ceasefire now" and "in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians."

London's Metropolitan Police said it had made three arrests. In a post on X, police said one person was arrested for displaying a placard that could incite hate, contrary to terrorism legislation.

Britain has supported Israel's right to defend itself after the Hamas militant group killed 1,400 people and took more than 240 hostage in an Oct. 7 assault in southern Israel.

Echoing Washington's stance, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government has stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and instead advocated humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach people in need.

Thousands of protesters marched in central Paris to call for a ceasefire with placards reading "Stop the cycle of violence" and "To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit."

In Berlin, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. One woman marched with her arm in the air, her hand covered in fake blood.

Western governments have offered support to Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks but there has been growing concern over civilian casualties that have soared under Israel's bombardment that has seen thousands killed, wounded and displaced in Gaza.

Palestinians reported a deadly Israeli strike on a UN-run school in northern Gaza serving as a shelter on Saturday.

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Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
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Mudslides in Ethiopia Have Killed at Least 229

This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)
This grab made from a handout footage released by the Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department on July 23, 2024, shows people looking for victims at the bottom of a landslide that occurred in the Geze-Gofa district. (Photo by Gofa Zone Government Communication Affairs Department/ESN / AFP)

Mudslides triggered by heavy rain in a remote part of Ethiopia have killed at least 229 people, including many who tried to rescue survivors, local authorities said Tuesday, in what the prime minister called a "terrible loss."

Young children and pregnant women were among the victims in Kencho Shacha Gozdi district of southern Ethiopia, said Dagmawi Ayele, a local administrator, adding that at least five people have been pulled out alive.

The death toll rose sharply from the initial one of 55 late Monday. Search operations continued in the area, said Kassahun Abayneh, head of the communications office in Gofa Zone, the administrative area where the mudslides occurred.

Ethiopia's ruling party in a statement said it felt sorrow over the disaster. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Facebook that he was "deeply saddened by this terrible loss."

The federal disaster prevention task force has been deployed to assist in search and rescue efforts, Abiy's statement said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were still unaccounted for.

Many victims were buried on Monday as rescue workers searched the steep terrain for survivors of another mudslide the previous day. Markos Melese, director of the disaster response agency in Gofa Zone, said many rescuers remained missing.

"There are children who are hugging corpses, having lost their entire family, including mother, father, brother and sister," he said.

Some women wailed as rescuers attempted to dig through the thick mud with shovels.

Landslides are common during Ethiopia's rainy reason, which started in July and is expected to last until mid-September.

Deadly mudslides often occur in the wider East African region, from Uganda's mountainous east to central Kenya's highlands. In April, at least 45 people were killed in Kenya's Rift Valley region when flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road.