Bosnians Protest Over Gaza Death Toll

Around a hundred people gathered in the centre of Sarajevo to demonstrate against the Israeli air attacks on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.Bosnians gathered on November 21 in the city centre of Sarajevo bearing banners that read “Save Gaza” or “Freedom for Palestine”, demanding an end to the air attacks that have killed dozens of civilians in the past week.

The protesters, including Palestinians living in Bosnia, gathered on the square on Tuesday but then paraded along the main street, aiming to put a spotlight on the casualties in Gaza, whose numbers have risen to over a hundred.

Stand for Justice, which organized the gathering, told Anadolu News Agency that they aimed firstly to send support to children in Gaza as well as to other Palestinians.

“Children are having their basic human rights taken away and we in Bosnia went through the same thing,” Nermina Karacic said, referring to the 1992-war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Sarajevo feels solidarity with Palestine in many ways… We hope that our message can be heard by some who can do more for them because we are only students,” Karacic added.

Stand for Justice was formed recently on the social network Facebook and within days gathered enough people to organize the rally.

Organizers have started gathering cash to send medicines to Gaza and they plan to go out on the streets again on Friday.

Mohammad Al-Saidi, a Palestinian living in Bosnia, told the news agency that he had come to protest against the war that he was said was being conducted against the people of Gaza.

“The Israeli army has been attacking them constantly for six days,” he said. “Some 120 people have been killed and every human being should be on the side of the Palestinian people.”

Some 115 Palestinians have died in a week of fighting, mostly civilians, including 27 children, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported recently. Three Israelis died last week when a rocket from Gaza struck Israel.

Israel denies being the aggressor in the conflict and says it will cease attacks once it has obtained cast-iron assurances that the authorities in Gaza will not permit any more rockets to be fired into Israel.

This week the Israelis have also played down talk of mounting a ground offensive in Gaza.