Thousands hold protest rallies around the world

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated across the world yesterday in support of the Palestinians and against Israeli airstrikes pounding Gaza, underscoring the risk of a wider regional conflict erupting as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion in the coastal strip.

From Amman, Jordan, to Yemen's capital of Sanaa, Muslims poured out onto the streets after weekly Friday prayers, angered by the Israeli strikes in a war that began after Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel last Saturday.

At Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Israeli police had been permitting only older men, women and children to enter the sprawling hilltop compound for prayers, trying to limit the potential for violence as tens of thousands attend on a typical Friday prayer.

"We can't live, we can't breathe, they are killing everything that is good within us," said Ahmad Barbour, a 57-year-old cleaner in a clean white thobe, seething after police blocked him from entering for prayers.  "Everything that is forbidden to us is allowed to them," he added, referring to Israelis.

In Beirut, thousands of Hezbollah supporters waved Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags, chanting slogans supporting Gaza and calling "death to Israel." The Iranian-backed group in neighboring Lebanon has launched attacks since the Hamas assault, but largely hasn't entered the war.

Across Iran, a supporter of Hamas and Israel's regional archenemy, demonstrators protested. In Tehran, the country's capital, they burned Israeli and Ameircan flags, chanting: "Death to Israel," "Death to America," "Israel will be doomed," and "Palestine will be the conqueror."

In Indonesia, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, joined dozens of people in a march against Israel in the Javanese city of Solo, reports Reuters.

In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Muslim activists chanted slogans as they protested against Israel's actions after Friday prayers at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.

Members of Japan's Muslim community staged a protest near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo. Participants held signs and chanted slogans such as "Israel, terrorist" and "Free Palestine".

In Sri Lanka, protesters held up signs saying, "Palestine you will never walk alone".

Protesters also took to the streets in India's Kashmir region although Friday prayers at the main mosque in the regional capital Srinagar were cancelled to avoid unrest.

Pro-Palestinian rallies were also planned in Rome, Munich, Istanbul, Belgrade and other cities.