LONDON

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Denmark on Sunday as the country marked Liberation Day by protesting against Israel's war on Gaza.

The organizers of the demonstration in Copenhagen linked the protest directly with the struggle of Danish resistance fighters against the German occupation during the Second World War.

"We celebrate the liberation by demanding an end to the genocide in Gaza,” the movement, called "Everyone on the Streets for a Free Palestine," wrote in a Facebook post.

"Our resistance fighters – the comrades who ensured Denmark a place on the right side of history – go with us in spirit,” they said.

“By fighting against the genocide and against Danish support for the genocide, we continue the fight for which they gave everything," the organizers wrote.

Minister of Church Affairs Morten Dahlin was criticized by the movement when he suggested earlier that it is wrong to link the day when Denmark was freed from German occupation and the Nazi regime that was behind the genocide of millions of Jews in 1945 with an anti-Israel demonstration.

“It is a bit ridiculous to have such an attitude when Palestine is fighting against genocide. So of course, we must support them. Whether it is today or tomorrow,” they wrote.

In the Danish city Aarhus, Liberation Day was also linked to the Gaza war.

Here, a “memorial ceremony” for the victims of Gaza was organized in the Botanical Garden.

Dina Hessellund Winther Hansen, who helped organize the event, also criticized Dahlin.

“On Liberation Day, it is entirely appropriate to remember all people who have been under occupation,” she said, according to national broadcaster DR.

Elise Bjerkrheim, who participated in the demonstration in Copenhagen, said it is entirely appropriate to link the Gaza war with Liberation Day.

She insisted that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has herself used the day to compare it with the situation in occupied Ukraine.

“Today, we see that there is an occupied Gaza and Palestine. So in that way, we believe that no population should be exposed to an occupation,” she was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

“At the same time, I must also say that it is crazy that you can be so outraged by this date rather than the genocide that is taking place,” Bjerkrheim added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, in which Tel Aviv says around 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 78,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

International organizations including UN agencies have demanded a cease-fire in Gaza and increased humanitarian aid access to address medical shortages, hunger, thirst and hygiene deficiencies leading to diseases in Gaza.

The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said in March that "hunger is everywhere" in Gaza.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.