Millions set to hold rallies across globe on International Quds Day

Yemeni people hold a giant Palestinian flag during a rally to mark the International Quds Day in support of Palestinians, in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, July 10, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Millions of people are set to attend the International Quds Day rallies in various parts of the world to show their solidarity with the oppressed Palestinian people and condemn Israeli atrocities. 

Millions of people across Iran and other countries will stage massive rallies on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Pro-Palestinian groups have called for a high turnout.

Calls for boycotting Israel remained the main theme of this year’s demonstrations, a trend that has been promoted by pro-Palestinian activists for years as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or the BDS.

Anti-Israeli sentiments have risen among people across the world over Tel Aviv’s discriminatory policies in the occupied territories and toward the besieged Gaza Strip.

The occupied Palestinian territories have seen tensions ever since Israel introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015. More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of October 2015.

Each year, millions of people around the world stage rallies on this day to voice their support for the Palestinians and repeat their call for an end to the Tel Aviv regime’s atrocities and its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Scores of protesters already took to the streets of London to mark the day. The demonstration was held on the last Sunday of the holy month of Ramadan and saw people marching down the Regent Street before gathering at the junction with Oxford Street.

Co-organized by the Islamic Human Rights Council, the event also featured Jewish speakers who drew a line between being anti-Israeli occupation and anti-Semitism, an accusation that pro-Israeli lobbies often use to stifle protests.

The protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and carried signs that read “Boycott Israel”, “Freedom for Palestine” and “Zionism = racism.”

In August 1979, the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini declared the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as the International Quds Day, calling on Muslims across the world to mark the annual occasion by holding street rallies.