Around 4,500 people, according to French police estimates, gathered in central Paris on Wednesday night to denounce Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip for the third night in a row, Agence France-Presse found.

The demonstrators, mostly young, waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans such as “long live the struggle of the Palestinian people”, “this is not war, it is genocide”, “Israel is killing the children of Palestine”.

As of 18:00 (local time; 19:00 Greek time) “4,500 people gathered,” the Paris police headquarters said, adding that they “dispersed at 23:30 (00:30)”. He clarified that interventions by law enforcement forces “prevented the obstruction of traffic” in the French capital.

“The limit of the world’s anger was exceeded because we exceeded the limit of horror” when the shelling of a displaced persons camp near Rafah took place with dozens of dead on Sunday, said Kenan, a 26-year-old Palestinian who preferred to give only his small name.

“The world is revolting,” he added, as the war in the Palestinian enclave heads into eight months.

Samia, 33, went to the demonstration for the first time. “It’s wrong, we’re watching genocide happen,” he explained. “What happened on October 7 is horrific, but since October 7 Palestinians are being killed every day,” he added.

Other rallies involving hundreds of people took place in cities such as Lille (north), with around 300 people participating.

“Israel is entering a new stage in the slaughter of the Palestinian people: after bombing civilians, entire cities, sending troops against civilians, hitting humanitarian convoys, now it is bombing refugee camps,” said one of the protesters in Lille, Gilles Saber, 18. student, member of the Communist Youth Movement.

In Marseille (southeast) and Lyon (east), the mayors announced that they would turn off lights in municipal buildings from 10:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m.) to pay tribute “to the civilian casualties in Gaza.”