Thousands in Lebanon, Europe protest against Gaza violence

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Nearly 20,000 people marched through southern Lebanon on Saturday to protest against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, as thousands also took to the streets in several European cities to show their anger.

Similar protests have occurred almost daily in the Middle East and elsewhere since Israel launched its operation more than two weeks ago to stop rocket fire from the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Rallies were being held in cities across Canada on Saturday by both pro-and anti-Israel demonstrators.

Demonstrations have been fuelled by the rising death toll in Gaza, which currently stands at over 800 Palestinians. Thirteen Israelis have also died in the fighting.

Saturday's rally in the southern Lebanese town Nabatiyeh was organized by the militant Hezbollah group, a strong ally of Hamas that fought its own war with Israel in the summer of 2006.

The thousands of demonstrators who marched through the streets waved Lebanese and Palestinian flags and some carried posters of bloody Palestinian children.

"Gaza is the nation's battle," read a banner carried by several of the protesters.

Thousands of people also protested in several cities across Europe, with the largest crowds in Germany, where some 20,000 took to the streets in Berlin and two other cities.

An estimated 8,500 rallied at Berlin's Alexanderplatz and then marched through downtown to the city's main train station. Some 10,000 people also marched in the western city Duisburg, calling for an immediate end to the violence and a lifting of the blockade of Gaza. They carried signs with slogans like "Freedom for Palestine" and "Down with the murdering of children."

Thousands of demonstrators in the Scottish capital Edinburgh gathered in front of the U.S. consulate to toss shoes at the 19th-century townhouse. Sky News television footage showed police recoiling as a storm of shoes flew over their heads.

"They were just flying, like hail through the sky," protest organizer Ian Hood said in a telephone interview.

He said protesters were angry at the U.S. for failing to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.

In London, about 12,000 demonstrators rallied in Hyde Park in support of the Palestinian cause, carrying placards marked "Gaza: Stop the massacre" and chanting: "Free, free Palestine."

Saturday's protests were largely peaceful but more than 60 people were injured during a large demonstration the previous day in Algeria's capital, many by stone-throwing, the Interior Ministry said.