Hamas's attack on October 7, followed by the Israel-Hamas war, sparked anger around the world, leading to demonstrations supporting the Palestinians, and others supporting Israel, while the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) provided data on the nature of these protests.

The data covered demonstrations that took place between October 7 and 27, showing that most of them were peaceful, but about 5 percent turned violent or were dispersed by the police or other security forces.

What does the data say?

About 4,200 demonstrations were witnessed worldwide, nearly 3,700 supporting the Palestinians, 520 supporting Israel, while about 100 demonstrations took a neutral stance, calling for peace without taking a clear position supporting Israel or the Palestinians.

The demonstrations were distributed as 600 in the United States, 170 in Germany, and 1,400 in the Middle East and North Africa.

In the Middle East and North Africa, Yemen topped with 490 demonstrations, followed by Turkey with 357, Iran 276, and Morocco 267.

The largest number of demonstrations recorded worldwide were in reaction to orders from the Israeli army for Gaza residents to evacuate the northern half of the Strip on October 13.

After about four days, specifically on October 17, the controversial explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital (the Baptist) in Gaza City raised the level of global anger, and the demonstrations intensified, roaming the streets of major Western cities.

Hamas accused Israel of bombing the hospital and "committing a massacre," to which Israel denied and accused the Islamic Jihad movement of causing the explosion due to a failed rocket launch, a narrative supported by Western governments.
 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators organized protests in London, Berlin, Paris, Ankara, Istanbul, and Washington in recent weeks, demanding a ceasefire after intense Israeli bombing and a ground invasion that Gaza medical authorities say led to the killing of more than 11,000 people, about 40 percent of whom were children.

Pro-Israel demonstrators called for the release of hostages held by Hamas during the October 7 attacks in southern Israel, which resulted in the death of about 1,200 people in the bloodiest day in Israel’s history in 75 years, according to Israeli statistics. Another 240 were taken to Gaza as hostages.
 

While protests in cities like London, Berlin, and Washington received most of the Western media attention, most of the demonstrations recorded by ACLED were in the Middle East and North Africa, regions with a majority Muslim population where demonstrators overwhelmingly supported the Palestinians.

Demonstrations were especially frequent in Yemen, Iran, Turkey, and Morocco.
 

Throughout Europe, major cities were shaken by protests and counter-protests between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators, with some turning violent.
 

In Berlin, ACLED data reported the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators during multiple protests in October, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with the police.

In central Paris, thousands marched on November 4 demanding a ceasefire, holding signs that read "Stop the cycle of violence" and "Doing nothing, saying nothing means complicity."

French authorities had banned some previous pro-Palestinian gatherings due to concerns about public disorder.

More than 300,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators participated in a march in central London on Saturday, and the police arrested more than 120 people while trying to prevent right-wing demonstrators from setting an ambush for the main march.

According to ACLED data, the United States saw the largest number of counter-demonstrations opposing pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
 

Pro-Palestinian marches in Washington were among the largest marches ever in recent years.

At American universities, competing groups of demonstrators faced each other in tense scenes, with reports of harassment and assaults on both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students.