gelatik
16.04.02, 00:50
Danish Opposition, Unions Call For Pro-Palestinian Demo
COPENHAGEN, April 15 - Following their call on the government to stop exporting
defense equipment to Israel, opposition parties and trade unions in Denmark
called for a demonstration on Tuesday to protest against Israel's military
offensive in the Palestinian territories, news agencies reported.
The protest, whose slogan is to be "Peace Now", was jointly announced Monday by
the Social Democrats, the People's Socialist Party, and the former communist
Unity List as well as by trade unions, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Former Social Democrat Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft and socialist leader
Holger Nielsen will be among speakers at the protest, to be held outside
Copenhagen's city hall at 1500 GMT.
The protestors will call on Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian
territories.
For its part, the Danish government summoned Israel's ambassador to Copenhagen
last Monday to vigorously protest the Israeli army's ongoing offensive.
Meanwhile, the Social Democrats and the Radical party called on the government
to stop exporting defense equipment to Israel, parliamentary sources said
Monday.
Niels Helveg Petersen, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, appealed Sunday to
the government to follow Germany's example and suspend exports of defense
equipment because of Israel's offensive. The Social Democrats added their
support to the appeal Monday.
The Justice Ministry said on Monday that no Danish company requested a license
to export defense equipment to Israel last year nor so far this year.
In Luxembourg, meanwhile, European Union (EU) Foreign Ministers appear to have
rejected calls for trade sanctions against Israel, reported BBC’s online news
service.
Though there is real frustration about Israel's refusal to withdraw its forces
from the West Bank, the EU is not in the mood for dramatic gestures.
No-one wants to do anything which could undermine Powell's mission following
his call for a ceasefire in Madrid last week, a BBC correspondent said.
"We're not behind Powell just because we like him," said Christina Gallach,
spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
"It's because he has the Madrid declaration as part of his brief."
