Pro-Palestinian rioters in Europe attack police

Pro-Palestinian rioters in Berlin threw stones, bottles and fireworks at law enforcement, imitating similar rioting by Arabs in Judea and Samaria.

By World Israel News and AP

On Saturday, police broke up a pro-Palestinian riot of 3,500 people for failure to comply with coronavirus distancing rules. Rioters responded by throwing stones, bottles and fireworks in a scene reminiscent of Arab rioting in Judea and Samaria.

Meanwhile, French riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons Saturday in Paris as pro-Palestinian rioters defied a ban on marching in the French capital.

In Paris, protesters scattered and played cat-and-mouse with security forces in the city’s northern neighborhoods after their starting point for a planned march was blocked.

Paris Police Chief Didier Lallement had ordered 4,200 security forces into the streets and closed shops around the kick-off point for the march after an administrative court confirmed the ban due to fears of violence.

Authorities noted that a banned July 2014 pro-Palestinian protest in Paris degenerated into violence.

Organizers sought to “denounce the latest Israeli aggressions.”

“Stop Annexation. Palestine Will Vanquish,” read one poster in a small crowd facing off with police.

Protesters shifted from neighborhood to neighborhood in Paris as police closed in on them, sometimes with tear gas and water cannons, and police said 44 people were arrested. In a lengthy standoff, protesters pelted a line of security forces with projectiles before police pushed them to the edge of northern Paris.

“We don’t want scenes of violence. We don’t want a conflict imported to French soil,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal said.

Demonstrators chanting “Free Palestine!” marched through London’s Hyde Park and gathered outside the Israeli embassy’s gates, watched by a large number of police.

In other French cities, large pro-Palestinian crowds marched Saturday in Strasbourg in the east and Marseille on the Mediterranean Sea.

In Madrid, protesters held signs that read “”USA Terrorist State” and “Muslim Lives Matter.”