Pro-Palestinian protesters in Berlin demand end to the war

A pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin calling for an end to the war in the Gaza Strip drew several hundred people on Saturday, reported dpa.

Demonstrators marched from the Kreuzberg district of the German capital to the Brandenburg Gate in the city centre under the slogan "Solidarity with Palestine."

Organizers registered a protest for 5,000 people, but police put the number at several hundred. The gathering was proceeding peacefully, a spokesman said.

Marchers wore Palestinian scarves and carried placards condemning the bombing of the Gaza Strip as a war crime. They called for freedom for Palestine, waving Palestinian flags.

They chanted: "Stop the murder, stop the war, stop the Gaza genocide."

A Berlin branch of the opposition hard-left Die Linke had called the protest. It urged the German government to work towards an immediate and durable ceasefire and for the blockade on the Gaza Strip to be lifted.

Humanitarian aid should be allowed in to provide for the civilian population, Die Linke said.