Tens of thousands in Spain strike to protest Israel’s military action

Five days after the start of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of people in Spain took part in a strike on Wednesday to protest Israel’s military action in the coastal territory.

Trade unions called on people to stop work for two hours at a time in the morning, around lunchtime and in the evening.

Besides slight delays to local transport and short interruptions to television broadcasts, there were no major reports of disruption to public life.

Demonstrations were held in large cities including Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, each of which counting several thousand participants.

In Barcelona, broadcaster RTVE reported that protesters clashed with police, with officers using pepper stray against people who tried to enter a train station.

Some demonstrators threw bottles at the police, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia.

Demonstrators also set fire to some of the large plastic containers for household waste that can be found on almost every corner in Barcelona.

Spain is one of the European Union’s harshest critics of Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip. The country has imposed an arms embargo on Israel and issued entry bans for far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip in Israel on October 7, 2023, which saw around 1,200 people killed and some 250 others taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a massive offensive against Hamas in the densely population territory, which Palestinian sources say has killed more than 67,000 people, mainly civilians.