A group of Israeli tourists who were visiting the University of Coimbra, on Friday, the 17th, crossed paths with a group of twenty students who were protesting against Israel's intervention in the Gaza Strip, resulting in physical confrontations.

In a statement sent to Notícias ao Minuto, the pro-Palestine activists say they were "victims of physical and psychological violence of a racist and xenophobic nature on the part of Zionists, receiving death threats, kicks and hate speech".

The group reveals that the activists were "peacefully" displaying messages of solidarity, demands, Palestinian symbols and photographs of the massacre in Gaza when they were approached by a tourist group of about 30 people accompanied by a tour guide.

"As they approached, they stepped on and spat on the pro-Palestine materials on display, as well as trying to steal several Palestinian flags from the exhibition of the Coimbra Collective for Palestine, even breaking and tearing one of them", they say.

Faced with the offensive, "the activists tried to get the flags back, peacefully asking them to leave this space, explaining that it was a normal initiative that has been taking place these days". Then, they allege, the group "responded with racist and xenophobic violence".

The Coimbra group for Palestine also reports that the group of "Russians living in Israel", between 60 and 70 years old, "violently intimidated one of the activists, who is a woman, a minor and racialized". "They called her 'Fascist', 'Monkey', said that 'she should go back to Africa' and even threatened her with death", they add.

The violence will have escalated, the demonstrators guarantee, when people from this same tourist group "started kicking and threatening to kill other people in the pro-Palestine initiative".

According to Expresso, which reported the news, the PSP had to intervene to separate the two groups. The police called to the scene escorted the Israeli tourists to the bus that transported them to the site. According to the same source, the police "identified" the contenders, but did not make any arrests.

The current conflict in the Gaza Strip was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which caused about 1,200 deaths and two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip has caused more than 35,000 deaths and nearly 80,000 injuries in seven months, according to data from the enclave's Ministry of Health, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.

Also Read: Hamas says 35,386 people have died since the start of the war (Portuguese version)