Thousands of residents in several of Arab and Muslim countries protested on Friday in support of the Palestinian people facing the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The protests took place in Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Syria, Lebanon and several other countries in the middle east.
In Egypt, the protesters rallied after Friday prayers and called on Arab government to take action to support and protect the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The protest took place in front of Al Azhar mosque in Cairo, while hundreds of Egyptian policemen and security forces lined-up there; The Al Azhar mosque is 1.000-year old construction.
The protesters demanded the Israeli ambassador in Egypt to leave the country.
The protesters did not take off to the streets and remained inside the mosque’s courtyard and chanted slogans calling for supporting the Palestinians and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
The protesters carried a 3-meter long banner that reads “With our blood we protect you, Al-Aqsa".
In Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, denounced the Israeli attack and described it as “the war to annihilate the Palestinian people … by the malicious, racist Jewish army".
Some 5000 Lebanese residents protested after Friday prayers at a mosque in southern Beirut.
Also, at least one-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon held a sit-in protest outside the U.N. building in downtown Beirut, and protested against the Israeli attacks in Gaza, and demanded world action to protect the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, in Jordan hundreds of Palestinian refugees protested in the streets of Al Baq’a refugee camp, on the outskirts of the Jordanian Capital, Amman.
In Syria, at least 500 Palestinian refugees marched in the streets of Al Yarmouk refugee camp, chanted slogans against the Israeli violations and continuous attacks, and carried Palestinian flags, while some 24 children carried a 10-meter Palestinian flag.
In Turkey, thousands of protesters carried Palestinian flags while chanting slogans against Israel and its offensive.
Dozens of young men wrapped Palestinian Kafiyyehs on their faces and burnt Israeli flags. Turkish police was intensively present in the area.
