2,300 march in Barcelona to demand end to 'genocide' in Palestine

Around 2,300 people, according to local police, took to the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to demand an end to the Israeli army's attacks on the Palestinian people.

The protest began in Plaça Universitat and moved through the city center under the slogan "Stop the genocide and apartheid in Palestine from the river to the sea."

The vast majority of the demonstrators were dressed in black as a sign of mourning for what they perceive as a "massacre" of the population in the Gaza Strip just days before Christmas.   

The protestors marched behind a group of children carrying a reproduction of Picasso's Guernica in the colors of the Palestinian flag.  

The march passed through Plaça Catalunya, Via Laietana and ended at Plaça Sant Jaume, where a minute of silence was held.

This was followed by a re-enactment of a bombing in Gaza, with sounds and smoke imitating bombs.

Laurent Cohen, co-president of the Catalan Association of Jews and Palestinians, called for an embargo on arms trade with Israel.   

"We have to move from words to action to stop the genocide in Gaza," he stressed.

Natalia Abu Sharar, the president of the Palestinian community in Catalonia, said that these protests help "raise awareness" and compared the current conflict to the "Nakba" of 1948.

Alys Samson Estapé, a member of the Coalition Against Complicity with Israel, criticized the "very little institutional response" and denounced "empty words" from politicians.