A second Rally for Palestine took place in Ljubljana on Thursday. The protesters were mainly leftists and migrants, who gathered in Prešeren Square, where they unfurled flags and banners. Afterwards, a small crowd of protesters marched to the US Embassy, where the police closed the street, and then to Republic Square.
The march was organised by the Palestinian Rights Movement. After a minute’s silence under the Prešeren Monument, the gathering marched down Čopova Street towards the US Embassy and then to Republic Square. Masked individuals covered by headscarves were also seen among the protesters.
However, this time, there were no shouts of “Allahu akbar” heard at the rally, unlike at the first such rally. In addition to migrants of Palestinian and Arab origin, the rally also seemed to have been attended by immigrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina or their descendants, since, alongside many Palestinians, the banner bearing the coat of arms of the now-former republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was used by the Bosnian army in the 1990s, and which included Islamist volunteers and mujahedin from Muslim countries, was also visible. The bulk of the crowd was made up of “native” leftists, known for their support for Palestine and Hamas. Minister Luka Mesec was among them, and Nataša Sukič, also a member of the Left party (levica), was also once again present at the rally.
Is the government not pro-Palestinian enough?
The banners of the gathering bore slogans in Slovenian and English, such as “Free Palestine” and “Stop Genocide”, while a larger banner read in English “Free Palestine from German Guilt”, which was the protesters’ way of saying that Germany supposedly supports Israel because of its own historical sense of guilt towards the Jews. The protesters also apparently feel that the current government is not sufficiently sympathetic to the Palestinians, as they also unfurled a banner reading, “Golob, where is the freedom?” A number of other banners called for an end to “apartheid” and for a free Palestine “From the river to the sea.”
Migrants at the head of the procession
As the group of protesters gathered in Republic Square, a few migrants took their place at the head of the crowd alongside the left-wing organisers. Chants followed, as well as the recitation of poetry in Arabic. A Palestinian also addressed the crowd, announcing that the rest of his family would join him in Slovenia soon. The rally ended with Arabic music and pro-Palestinian chants.
The Palestinian Rights Movement rallied to demand “decisive action by Slovenian politics to prevent genocide and stop the atrocities” and to demand that the European Union, which they say supports Israel “unconditionally”, take this stand. They addressed their demands and “call for respect for international law and human rights” to Prime Minister Robert Golob, Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, members of the Slovenian National Assembly, as well as to MEPs, European Council President Charles Michel and the embassies of the US, France, Germany and the UK.
A. S.
