A large demonstration entitled "Stop Arming Israel" will be held on Sunday 20 October, leaving from Brussels-North station at 14:00, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.
The seventh major European march since 7 October 2023 calling for the justice of Palestinians will be extended to the plight of the Lebanese civilians, who are also victims of Israel’s latest escalation against armed group Hezbollah, who continue to fire rockets into Israel, most of which are intercepted.
The demonstration will begin with a rally at Brussels-North station at 14:00 on Sunday 20 October. Participants will then march at 14:30 to the Place Jean Rey, where speeches will be held from 16:00. Participants will be invited to lay flowers in tribute to the dead at the arrival point.
The event is organised by a coalition of some sixty civil society organisations, including the Belgian-Palestinian Association, the Palestinian collective Beitna, CNCD-11.11.11 and 11.11.11, trade union FGTB, Solidaris, the Christian workers’ movement and the Union of Progressive Jews of Belgium (UPJB).
The rally demands urgent and concrete measures by Belgium and the EU to achieve a permanent ceasefire in both Gaza and Lebanon, and "to put an end to Israel's impunity."
According to the press release, the priority is the protection of all civilian populations, which only a ceasefire can guarantee. The demonstrators will be calling for a complete military embargo on Israel, for sanctions on the leaders of the settlers' movement and for Israeli officials who have incited violence. Finally, protestors want the EU-Israel Association Agreement to be suspended over human rights breaches, as the agreement stipulates.
Organisers are also calling on Belgium to comply with the International Court of Justice's Advisory Opinion of 19 July which sets out clear responsibilities for third States to prevent trade and investment that contribute to the maintenance of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
"The International Criminal Court accuses Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity: our government needs to stop justifying and enabling these crimes," Isabella Vanbrabant, peace activist and national coordinator of civil society organisation Intal, told The Brussels Times.
Furthermore, recent attacks on the UN peacekeeping force (UNFIL) station in southern Lebanon have forced EU Member States Italy, France and Spain to publish a joint statement "expressing outrage" at the Israeli attack on UNIFIL, calling it "unjustifiable". These countries are all major contributors to the UN mission and have soldiers stationed there.
"A massive turnout in the streets of the European capital, Brussels, can put pressure [on EU leaders]; Palestinians can liberate themselves, but our role here is to end Belgian and EU complicity, for the sake of humanity," Vanbrabant said.
Organisers call on all participants to demonstrate peacefully. Anyone who condones war crimes, attacks on civilians, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any other form of racism will be immediately excluded from the rally.
