Support Action for Palestine at the Geneva Cantonal Assembly
The protesters, who held a demonstration in front of the Geneva Cantonal Assembly, showed strong support for Palestine. This demonstration raised reactions against Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The prosecutors aimed to appeal to the international community by chanting slogans such as “Freedom for Palestine” and “Boycott Israeli products”.
The actions who organized the protest criticized the Swiss government for not taking a clear stance against Israel. They called on the Geneva Cantonal Council to take a more effective stance against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “The cantonal government is doing nothing and is not reaching out to the federal government to change our policy,” the politicians said, voicing their concerns.
One of the organizers of the demonstration was an activist Palestinian and Swiss citizen Rania“We want to convey a message to the federal parliament because they have a session right now to take a position on what is happening in Gaza for 9 months,” Rania told AA. Reminding that Geneva is an important city for international peace, Rania said, “We want to remind them not only of the Geneva Conventions, but also that Geneva is a city of peace for all international organizations.”
Rania emphasized that the situation in Gaza is extremely critical and stated that people there are being forcibly displaced and many people have lost their lives. “Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to Gaza; more than 500 people have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023. Israel has carried out attacks on refugee camps and many innocent people have lost their lives in these attacks. There is no Hamas “In that region, but they do not care. The issue here is genocide against the Palestinian people,” she said, expressing the situation even more strikingly.
On the other hand, the Swiss activist Lara AtassiHe also noted that some members of the Geneva parliament wrote articles supporting Palestine, but the cantonal government remained indifferent. “The cantonal government is doing nothing and is not reaching out to the federal government to change our policy. The federal government’s Foreign Minister, Ignazio Cassis, still supports Israel. Cassis is avoiding condemning this genocide,” Atassi said.
The protest, which lasted about an hour, ended without any unrest. By peacefully expressing their demands, the demonstrators managed to draw the attention of the international community to the Palestinian issue.
