THE HAGUE, March 28. /TASS/. A large-scale demonstration against the military operation of the United States and Israel against Iran took place in the center of The Hague, a TASS correspondent reports.
It was organized by the New Peace Movement initiative group.
The rally opened at 12:00 GMT with a concert of traditional Iranian music and the organizers speaking from the stage to the protesters. "The United States and Israel have again violated international law, this time by launching their large-scale aggressive war against Iran," Jacob de Jonge, a representative of the New Peace Movement, said. According to him, the Dutch authorities should "speak out clearly against this war." De Jonge and other organizers reminded the demonstrators that neither the kingdom's Prime Minister Rob Yetten nor Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen condemned the American-Israeli aggression and, on the contrary, expressed "understanding of the motives" of the attack on Iran.
According to police estimates, more than 500 people took part in the rally. Many protesters brought with them flags of the Islamic republic, portraits of the deceased supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as posters with the slogans "Stop the war!" and "We demand immediate peace!" There were also people with Palestinian flags among the demonstrators, and some speakers said that the fighting was taking the lives of civilians not only in Iran, but also in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
The organizers of the action, which included 26 pacifist and human rights movements, are also promoting a petition calling on the Dutch authorities to condemn the military actions of the United States and Israel, not to support them and to seek compliance with international law.
After the rally, a column of protesters marched through the central streets of the city. Participants of a small rally in support of the United States and Israel holding flags of the Jewish state tried to approach the demonstrators. Police officers formed a cordon between the two groups, preventing the actions from escalating into clashes; law enforcement officers led several demonstrators who were particularly aggressive towards police buses.
The action took place without any incidents and lasted about three hours. Several heavily armed police units, including mounted police and a helicopter patrol, were present.