Thousands of pro-Palestine activists gather for boycott protest and unitary demonstration 

Around 3,000 pro-Palestine activists gathered in Barcelona on Thursday to demand an end to the "genocide" that Israel is committing "against the Palestinian people every day."

The demonstration was called for September 18 to mark one year since the UN General Assembly resolution that demanded that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

That resolution gave Israel a timeline of one year to carry out, a deadline which passed on Thursday with occupation in the West Bank remaining and Israel commencing a major ground offensive into Gaza City earlier this week.

Protesters were called to gather with the objective of giving voice to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement on Israel, and to demand the "breaking of the blockade by land, sea, and air," and for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Before a unitary protest scheduled for 7 pm in nearby Plaça Catalunya, hundreds protested outside the Carrefour supermarket on La Rambla to demand that the chain "break ties with Israeli companies and banks, exit the Israeli market, stop the sale of Israeli products, and end support for the Israeli army."

The supermarket was closed on Thursday during the week protest.

"Carrefour - it's symbolic, not only against Carrefour," said feminist antifasct activist Lorena Brave. "It's a way of showing people have more power than is believed."

On Tuesday, a United Nations commission found that "Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

After gathering outside Carrefour, demonstrators marched up La Rambla to join crowds gathered in Plaça Catalunya for a large protest organized by several pro-Palestine organizations in Barcelona.

Signs included a hand-painted banner of Picasso's famous painting "Guernica," which depicts the suffering of war. 

"I came because what is happening in Palestine is a genocide," said protestor Conchita in Plaça Catalunya. "A war is Russia against Ukraine, where both can defend themselves and have arms. But when only one has arms and the other side is being removed from their home and they throw them on the ground, it’s not a war, it’s genocide. And this is a line that everyone who had to take to the streets cannot tolerate." 

Another protestor, Jesus, stressed the importance of protest as a tool for change: "No one is going to do it if it’s not the people."