Tunisians demonstrate in solidarity with Palestine

Tunisian cities on Saturday demonstrated in solidarity with Palestine as part of that country’s Land Day commemorations, Anadolu Agency reports.

Protests were held in Tunisia’s capital of Tunis and Sfax, southeast of Tunis.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at the Avenue Habib Bourguiba in Tunis coloring the streets in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Banners such as “The people want the independence of Palestine ” and “normalizing relations with Israel, should be a crime” were carried by demonstrators.

READ: Palestinians observe national mourning over Gaza deaths 

In Sfax, the Tunisian Student Association organized the Land Day program in the city’s main square.

Hundreds carried Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian independence.

Demonstrations that began Friday in the Gaza Strip are part of an annual Palestinian commemoration of the deaths of six Arab Israeli citizens killed by Israeli forces in 1976, during protests against government land confiscations in northern Israel.

READ: Palestine Land Day remembered 

At least 15 Gazans were martyred and hundreds injured when Israeli forces opened fire on protesters.

The rallies were the start of a six-week protest that culminates May 15, the day the Palestinians call Nakba, or Catastrophe, when Israel was founded.

Protesters are demanding Palestinian refugees be allowed the right of return to towns and villages their families fled, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created in 1948.

People carry a massive Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking the ‘Palestinian Land Day’ at the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 March, 2018. [Yassine Gaidi /Anadolu Agency]

People carry a massive Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking the ‘Palestinian Land Day’ at the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 March, 2018. [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

People pose for a photo with a Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking the ‘Palestinian Land Day’ at the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on March 31, 2018. [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

Tunisians carry Palestinian flags during a demonstration in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 March 2018 [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

A man holding a banner shouts during a demonstration marking the ‘Palestinian Land Day’ at the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 March, 2018 [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

People carry a massive Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking the ‘Palestinian Land Day’ at the Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, Tunisia on 31 March 2018 [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]