Yesterday and today, South Korean human rights organizations organized two protests in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital, Seoul, in which they condemned the ethnic cleansing and the aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The protesters also demanded a halt to the free trade agreement that their country concluded with Israel on the first day of the start of the aggression on Gaza.

The two stops were subjected to harassment from the authorities, as the number of participants in the stand was limited to 9 people, and the participants were prevented from chanting slogans.

Despite the constriction, more than 200 people participated in each stand, representing human rights organizations, labor and student unions, as well as representatives of the Palestinian and Arab community in South Korea.

The participants insisted on raising slogans denouncing the "Israeli apartheid" regime and its crimes against the Palestinians, and demanded the Korean government to stop supporting the "Israeli state of terror."

It also uploaded pictures of children who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, and chanted the slogans of "Freedom for Palestine" and "Down with Israel."

During their stand in front of the Israeli embassy, ​​the protesters raised pictures of child victims and slogans condemning the aggression (Al-Jazeera Net)

Brothers in humanity

In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Kim Taejung - one of the participants in the stand - said, "I was deeply saddened when I saw the bombing and the crimes against innocent people in Palestine and in Gaza in particular, and that reminded me of the crimes that the Korean people were subjected to during the colonial era, so I came to demand an end The innocents are bombed immediately. "

"I came here to support the Palestinians, because they are our brothers in humanity, and what they are exposed to cannot be tolerated by any human being," said Dawood Kim - a young Korean influential on social networking sites.

Mahmoud Al-Shakkani - a Korean businessman of Palestinian origin who participated in the stand - said, "I am Palestinian, Jordanian and Korean, but Palestine sits on our hearts and lives in our souls.

The authorities prevented - amid a heavy security presence - large numbers of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli embassy (Al-Jazeera Net)

The bias of the authorities

As for Abu Hashem (a pseudonym), he denounced the harassment of the demonstrators, and told Al-Jazeera Net, "We have recently seen a number of vigils and protests in support of various causes, but they have not been subjected to these harassment, and the Korean government thus proves that it identifies with Israeli policies and ignores the rights of the Palestinians, as well as Its interests are with the Arab world. "

The stand ended with a press conference, in which the organizers condemned the Israeli crimes and likened the Palestinian struggle to the Korean struggle for independence at the beginning of the last century.

They also condemned some Korean media outlets that describe the Palestinian resistance as terrorism, and called for continuous protests until the Israeli barbarism was stopped, and they called on the Korean government to show solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people and not to restrict the moves in support of it.