Thai Muslims protest Israel's attack on Gaza

About 400 members of the Muslim Group for Peace were waving the Thai flag and holding up placards reading "Free Gaza Now", "Stop the Bloodshed and "Israel is the Real Axis of Devil".

Others were holding up posters of children throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers, and the scenes depicting the damage sustained in Gaza and its residents. A poster of Hassan Nasrallah, the Shi'ite leader of Hezbollah, stood out among the crowd. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, is a powerful Lebanese militia that fought a vicious ground war with Israel in 2006.

Uniformed police officers stood guard in front of the Ocean Tower II Building downtown Bangkok where the embassy is located.

The group plans to hold another demonstration outside the embassy today, as more than 1,000 ThaiMuslims are expected to show up from all over Thailand to take part. Most of the demonstrators yesterday came from a Muslim community in Thon Buri.

In Bangkok's other Muslim communities, posters of injured children and blown up buildings in Gaza were plastered on walls with statements calling for action against Israel's aggression against the Palestinians.