Helsingborg Commemorates the International Day of Solidarity with Gaza and Prisoners in Occupation Jails

SadaNews - On Sunday, popular activities in the Swedish city of Helsingborg organized a massive public demonstration that marched through the main streets of the city, commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza and with the prisoners in Israeli occupation jails.

Participants raised Palestinian flags and banners demanding an immediate halt to the massacres and violations perpetrated by the occupation forces against the Palestinian people, affirming their rejection of the systematic war of starvation being waged against civilians in Gaza, and calling for urgent international intervention to end these crimes.

The march also highlighted the tragic conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails, and the racist violations committed against them, which constitute a blatant breach of international law and the Geneva Conventions, especially under the classification of prisoners as war prisoners who resisted the occupation.

The popular activities urged the international community and humanitarian and relief organizations to bear their legal and moral responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, by ensuring the provision of sufficient amounts of food, water, medicine, and fuel to the besieged Gaza Strip.

At the end of the event, Ms. Ingrid Mattiasen, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Swedish Left Party, delivered a speech expressing her solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners, calling on the Swedish government and the international community to pressure the occupation authorities for their immediate and unconditional release, and to guarantee their return to their families.

Mattiasen also condemned the daily massacres committed by the occupation in the Gaza Strip, considering them part of a systematic policy to forcibly displace the population as part of the plan of the extremist Israeli right.

For his part, Mr. Joran Martinsson, head of the Friends of Palestine group in Sweden, confirmed that the continued occupation's detention of Palestinians, especially the administrative detainees without fair trials, reflects the racist and fascist nature of the occupying state. He saluted the Barghouthi family, praising the resilience of the detainees Nael Barghouthi and Marwan Barghouthi, considering them symbols of the Palestinian national struggle.

Martinsson called for a boycott of the occupying state and the imposition of sanctions on it, urging the Swedish government and the international community to take serious steps to stop the war of extermination and starvation being waged against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

Mr. Ahmad Suleiman, head of the Swedish-Palestinian Center, also confirmed that what is happening in the Gaza Strip in terms of systematic siege, starvation, and mass killings, along with the torture and arbitrary detention faced by prisoners, is a blatant violation of all humanitarian laws and international charters.

Suleiman emphasized that the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza and in the occupation jails, is an expression of an invincible will, and a message to the world that freedom is not a choice but a right that does not expire over time.

Suleiman called on all civil society organizations in Europe to bear their historical and moral responsibilities, and to pressure for the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.

Participants in the event affirmed the necessity of continuing global solidarity with the Palestinian people until they obtain their legitimate rights, foremost among them the establishment of their independent state with its capital in Jerusalem.