Catalan journalists condemn killing of colleagues in Gaza: 'Israel does not want witnesses to genocide'

Around 1,000 people attended a journalists' protest in Barcelona's Plaça de Sant Jaume on Wednesday evening to condemn the systematic murder of journalists in Gaza, after the Israeli army killed a group of six colleagues on Sunday.

Demonstrators denounced that “Israel does not want witnesses to the genocide,” and demanded that international press be allowed entry into Gaza.

They also demanded that the murderers of the journalists be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. The group was killeod despite being in a tent identified as press.

The rally was part of the protest that organizations call every Wednesday to “stop the genocide in Palestine.”

This week it was joined by 142 company committees, unions, organizations, professional associations from the Catalan media ecosystem.

Those gathered in the square observed a minute's silence in memory of the dead journalists, who worked for the Al-Jazeera network.

At the demonstration, a message from a Palestinian journalist was heard, reflecting on the importance of reporting on a conflict such as the one in the Gaza Strip.

“Israel seeks to silence any voice that shows the reality of this bloody genocide or refutes its official narrative,” a manifesto from the journalists read.

“The systematic murder of journalists in Palestine is an attack on press freedom that endangers us all and leaves us more deaf and blind in Gaza,” it warned.

Demonstrators said that at least 238 media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, and that foreign press cannot enter the Strip to tell the world what is happening there.