THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Tens of thousands of demonstrators in the Netherlands donned red clothing and marched Sunday to protest the Dutch government's policy toward Israel, exceeding the turnout for a similar event in May.
Protesters walked a 3-mile (5-kilometer) loop around the center of The Hague to symbolically create the red line they say the government has failed to draw to halt Israel's campaign in Gaza.
''I don't want to be complicit in these horrendous crimes happening there and I want to speak out,'' protester Marin Koning told The Associated Press.
The human rights groups and aid agencies — including Amnesty International, Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders — that organized the march estimated the peaceful crowd at more than 150,000 people. Local media put the numbers closer to 100,000.
In neighboring Belgium, around 75,000 people, many of them also clad in red, hit the streets in the capital Brussels, police said. Several rallies have been held to draw attention to Israel's actions in Gaza, but Sunday's was the biggest rally so far.
The Dutch protest sent a ''clear signal,'' according to Marjon Rozema of Amnesty International Netherlands. Dutch officials must ''act now, at both the national and international level, to increase the pressure on the Israeli government,'' she said in a statement.
As during the first Red Line protest in May, the march took the crowds past the Peace Palace, headquarters of the United Nations' International Court of Justice, where last year judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.
Israel strongly denies that it is violating international law in Gaza.
