About 150 people took part in a parade through the centre of Brno yesterday afternoon, drawing attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s military blockade of the territory. The organisers of the event said they wanted to draw attention to Israel’s blockade by banging empty pots.
Police officers monitored the march and did not have to deal with any incidents, police spokesman David Chaloupka told CTK.
Participants gathered at Malinovskeho namesti at around 3:30pm, and walked through namesti Svobody to Dominikanske namesti. Some carried flags of Palestine, while others carried banners with slogans such as “Free Palestine,” “Stop Sending Money to Israel,” or “The Czech Republic Pays for the Murder of Children.”
“We will oppose the ongoing genocide and starvation of the Palestinians – the consequences of Israel’s deliberate policies,” wrote the organizers from Proti Dehumanizaci and Stop the Siege Brno in the event invitation. “By loudly banging on empty pots, we will draw attention to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid and join hundreds of humanitarian and human rights organizations demanding an end to the blockade, genocide, war crimes and apartheid.”
The war in the Gaza Strip erupted in October 2023, when Israel launched a military offensive in response to a terrorist attack by the Palestinian movement Hamas, in which gunmen killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 others hostage, with 48 still reportedly held captive.
At least 64,231 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, though the true number of casualties is thought to be significantly higher. The Israeli government has not allowed sufficient humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip since October 2023, and blocked all supplies, including food, for almost three months from March. Last month, the UN described the situation in Gaza as a famine, which the Israeli government denies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long argued that only maximum pressure will force Hamas to release the hostages, but the Israeli military offensive has gradually widened in scope, and Israeli ministers now openly call for the Palestinian population to be removed from their homeland in Gaza.
