Protests for Gaza have swept across Europe in September 2025, disrupting daily life, sporting events, and even maritime traffic.
In Bilbao, cyclists were forced to stop as demonstrators waving Palestinian flags blocked the Vuelta a España annual race. Days later, the race’s Madrid finale was cancelled entirely after 100,000 protesters denounced the participation of the Israel Premier Tech team.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez seized the moment, calling for Israel to be excluded from international sports competitions and drawing a parallel with Russia’s suspension after the invasion of Ukraine. For Gaza, usually absent from the sports pages, this was a rare burst of visibility.
At sea, the Global Sumud Flotilla– more than 50 vessels from over 40 countries- is attempting to breach Israel’s blockade and deliver humanitarian aid. The flotilla has drawn attention for its scale and participants, including Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.
As the aid journey reaches its final stretch towards Gaza, with 600 activists aboard 18 ships carrying 500 tons of aid, organizers have denounced drone attacks on vessels in Tunisian ports, including one strike to the ship Alma.
“We’re carrying a lot of humanitarian aid, but we’re also carrying a message of support from the peoples of the world that we are with the Palestinian people,” said Bruno Gilga, a flotilla spokesperson.
“This is the way to show Israel that it shouldn’t have the right to impose starvation,” claimed Kostas Fourikos, another of the flotilla’s participants.
The mission has become a diplomatic flashpoint. Governments from 16 countries have issued joint statements demanding protection for the convoy, including Barcelona’s City Council, which urged the Spanish government to guarantee its security and investigate the attacks.
Yet, Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the mission as a jihadist initiative, stating on September 19: “The so-called ‘Flotilla to Gaza’ is openly backed by jihadi Hamas. In Hamas’s own words: ‘We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Steadfastness Flotilla heading to Gaza.’ This is not humanitarian.”
Irene Montero, former Spanish Minister and current representative before the European Parliament, refuted Israel’s claims.
“The genocidaires once again threaten the Global Sumud Flotilla that is traveling to Gaza with food and medicine to break the blockade. Europe must ensure the protection of this civilian humanitarian mission. The terrorist is the State of Israel,” she responded on X.
Protest waves across Europe
In the UK, demonstrations have faced sharper confrontation. More than 900 people were arrested in London in early September at a “Lift the Ban” rally linked to Palestine Action, which the British government banned under terrorism laws.
Organisers in London denounced what they called police brutality and repression of peaceful dissent, as per Al Jazeera.
Elsewhere, the Dutch “Red Line” protests in The Hague tell a different story. Thousands of dissenters dressed in red to symbolize civilian bloodshed in Gaza, and formed human barriers, demanding EU-Israel agreements be suspended. Unlike the UK, there were no bans or mass arrests.
A protest in Berlin ended with police allegedly punching an Irish activist, an incident that remains under investigation.
These contrastic national responses reveal how political space for Palestine solidarity movements vary across Europe: from sports disruption and maritime convoys to mass marches. The same slogan, “Stop the genocide”, is tolerated in The Hague but criminalized- branded “terrorist”- in London.
Can protests become leverage?
Harvard scholar Erica Chonweth, for one, has shown that non-violent campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones, but only if they mobilize sustained participation from 3.5% of the population.
Similarly, a study from the London School of Economics and King’s College London adds that the clarity of demands and strict non-violence are key to long-term impact, even if early public reaction is hostile.
So far, Europe’s Gaza protests are dispersed: a race halted in Spain, a flotilla sailing from Sicily, arrests in the UK, human chains in the Netherlands. At the institutional level, however, contradictions arise. The European Council has called for Israel to lift the aid blockade and for an immediate ceasefire, yet member states maintain weapon trade agreements.
The question is whether these actions can build coherence across borders; can Bilbao, London, and The Hague link up into sustained continental pressure on Brussels? Or will they remain isolated bursts of outrage that fall short of political impact?
Featured image:
Image: Demonstration in Berlin, November 4, 2023. Organized by Palestinian and Jewish groups.
Source: Free Palestine will not be cancelled via Wikimedia Commons
License: Creative Commons Licenses
