Pro-Palestinian protest draws thousands in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN (AFP): More than 10,000 people took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Copenhagen on Sunday, calling for an end to the war in Gaza and urging Denmark to recognize the state of Palestine.

Some 100 organizations including Oxfam, Greenpeace and Amnesty took part in the march, as well as unions, political parties, artists’ collectives and activists including Greta Thunberg.

Police did not provide an estimate of the number of demonstrators.

Gathering under sunny skies outside the Danish parliament, the demonstrators — many of them families with young children — waved flags and carried banners, chanting “Stop Arms Sales,” “Free Free Palestine” and “Denmark Says No to Genocide.”

A traditional supporter of Israel, Denmark has said it wants to use its current presidency of the European Union to increase pressure on the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, which Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently said had gone “too far.”

But Denmark has said it has no plans to recognize a Palestinian state in the near future.

“Those who are in power are not stopping the genocide, so it’s even more important to go out and protest and show all the leaders that we do not agree with this,” 43-year-old demonstrator Michelle Appelros told AFP.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,622 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.