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Thousands of people in Buenos Aires protested against Israeli President Shimon Peres’ visit to Argentina on Monday, some of whom carried a banner telling the octogenarian he deserved a Nobel Prize for murder. The banner referred to 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, which Peres won together with former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that resulted in the Oslo Accords.
Protestors carried signs displaying dead children and calling Peres a “murderer”, and handed out pamphlets condemning Israel and its leaders. One of the protestors said, “It’s a disgrace that the president of our country is meeting today with child-murderer Shimon Peres. He should be expelled from the city. There are thousands of people who came here today to protest against the hospitality shown to a representative of an occupying and oppressive government.” Signs also displayed pictures of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
One of the signs said: “Get out of Argentina, murderer Shimon Peres”, and another said: “Death to Zionist-fascist Israel, officer of American imperialism in the Middle East, murderers of the Palestinian people!” The demonstrators, who marched toward the Israeli embassy, also carried signs glorifying Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, and Iran’s supreme leader, Sayyed Ali Khamenei, as well as Lebanese flags.
Journalists who were suspected of having Israeli backgrounds were ushered away and threatened with having their cameras broken. The president is currently nowhere near the scene of the protest, but the Israeli delegation fears demonstrators will attempt to infiltrate an event at which he is slated to appear during the evening, hosted by the Indian community.
Security around the president has been bolstered due to threats against him. Protestors in Brazil last week offered Peres a similar welcome, some of whom shouted at him: “War criminal, go home.” During Peres’ visit on Monday, he met with Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, his Argentinean counterpart. Kirchner told Peres in the meeting that she supported Iran’s nuclear program, as long as it was for peaceful purposes.
Ref: Al Jazeera
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