Over 3,000 Participants at Palestine Demonstration in Vienna

According to police reports, between three and three and a half thousand people demanded measures against the Jewish state on Saturday afternoon at a demonstration in Vienna in connection with what they referred to as "genocide" military operations by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Militant Tones at Palestine Demo in Vienna

Palestinian and left-wing activists struck militant tones, and the official representative of Palestine in Austria, Salah Abdel Shafi, strongly criticized Western governments.

Three months ago, the German Chancellor said 'Israel is doing the dirty work for us,' which was the truth, Shafi declared in a speech at the beginning of the demonstration at Christian-Broda-Platz in the sixth district of Vienna. Israel acts as the outpost of the West in the Middle East to do the dirty work. "And therefore, this state must be brought to an end," he said. Whether he was questioning Israel's right to exist or had formulated it vaguely in German as a non-native speaker remained unclear.

"Legal Obligation" to Sanctions Against Israel

According to a resolution of the UN General Assembly, Israel should have vacated all occupied territories by September 18, 2025, but as a "rogue state," it naturally did not, said the diplomat. "Because Israel has the rogue state USA behind it and cowardly governments in Europe and Israel has media that do not tell the truth but are accomplices," Shafi explained and demanded that, with reference to a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, both governments and media, as well as companies doing business with Israel, should be held accountable. All those 145 states that voted for this UN resolution have a legal obligation to boycott and sanction Israel. He welcomed the recognition of the Palestinian state announced by some Western states in the coming days, but emphasized that the genocide must end first.

Due to technical problems, the Palestine representative had to repeatedly interrupt his speech, during pauses "Free Palestine" was chanted. Sporadically, however, the slogan "From the river to the sea" was also chanted, which according to a decree by the Austrian Ministry of Justice in 2023 can constitute an "initial suspicion of approval of terrorist acts." Countless demonstrators held Palestine flags, but the names of 777 Palestinian and three Israeli infants who had died in Gaza since October 2023 were also written on carried cloths. An oversized key at the demonstration also referred to the desire of Palestinians to return to the homes from which they or mostly their ancestors were expelled decades ago.

Amnesty International for Release of "All Prisoners"

"While I stand here, children are dying, while I speak here, people are starving, dying, and lives are being buried forever under rubble and ashes. And this has been going on for 23 months," said Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi, the director of Amnesty International Austria. Without explicitly speaking of Israeli hostages in the hands of Hamas, she emphasized that her NGO advocates for the release of all prisoners and demands human rights for all.

Zehetner-Hashemi explained that she particularly wanted to address Austrian politicians. Murder and silence do not become time-barred, she emphasized, and simultaneously called for ending all cooperation that contributes to Israeli human rights violations and, for example, suspending the trade advantages that the EU grants Israel.

Four Austrians Sailing Towards Gaza

"Finally, we can see a Vienna that no longer has to be shamefully embarrassed - for our media, for our politics, and for our white cowardice," the left-wing activist Marlene Engelhorn addressed the demonstration participants at Christian-Broda-Platz, who then marched to the parliament.

Engelhorn had recently planned to sail to Gaza in the Mediterranean with other like-minded people. After a "strategic decision by the Austrian delegation," she returned to Vienna. She has "reach in Austria and Germany," the prominent millionaire heiress explained to the APA and simultaneously confirmed that currently four Austrian citizens are on boats sailing towards Gaza.

Schennach: Kreisky Would Have Recognized Palestinian State

At the thinned-out final rally in front of the parliament, which ended shortly after 7 PM with a performance by the artist KDM-Queen of the Night, the organizers celebrated their demonstration as a great success: A moderator spoke of 20,000 participants, about six times more than a police representative had told the APA in the afternoon, referring to drone footage.

In front of the High House, SPÖ politician Stefan Schennach, who until recently served as a Federal Councilor and still belongs to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg for Austria, appeared. On Saturday evening, he officially represented the "Society for Austrian-Arab Relations." "In the government declaration of the new government, I said something very clearly to the chancellor's dismay: It is a genocide that must also be called as such," the politician recounted. Everything must be done to stop it.

Schennach received applause for stating that as a Social Democrat, he was sorry that the era of Bruno Kreisky was so far in the past. The long-time SPÖ chancellor would have recognized the State of Palestine, he said, referring to the recognition announced by several Western states for next week. This step is also important because the international community must adhere to the two-state solution. Schennach announced the appointment of a Gaza rapporteur in the Council of Europe. "The demands we are raising today are then in the best hands," he explained.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.