KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of people gathered here on Saturday (May 4) in solidarity with Palestine.
Demonstrators carrying Palestine flags and wearing attire with the colours of its national flag gathered at Bukit Bintang, the KLCC Mosque and Masjid Ibnu Mas'ud in Kampung Datuk Keramat from 1pm on Saturday (May 4) before walking toward the United States Embassy.
Traffic along Jalan Tun Razak momentarily came to a halt as the groups crossed the road.
The crowd stopped before a police barricade placed about 200m away from the embassy.
Among those seen were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man and Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
Abdul Hadi, addressing the crowd, said the whole world was aware about the atrocities occurring in Gaza and the West Bank.
"Today we are here in solidarity with the Palestianians. Let us rise together," he said.
Dr Mahathir said Palestinians were very resilient.
"They chose to stay there even though they face ... the possibility of death.
"They want to protect their land. We cannot accept any effort ... to seize land belonging to others," he said.
He added that when he spoke to Hamas leaders, they told him that they would not retreat from Gaza.
"I was told that they have two million people there and over 40,000 people have been killed in the last seven months of attacks," he said.
The gathering dispersed peacefully at around 4.18pm.