JERUSALEM, Oct 14 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Israeli settlers and their supporters held simultaneous protests in 100 different venues Thursday against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to uproots the 8,000 Jewish residents of Gaza.
The protests, which took place across the country, marked the culmination of a week-long campaign against the premier's so-called disengagement plan, which should see all troops and settlers pulled out of the territory by next August.
Many of the protesters brandished orange flags or wore orange t-shirts which has become the symbolic colour of their campaign.
In Jerusalem, protesters gathered outside the official residence of Sharon where organisers placed 120 empty seats to represent the number of MPs in the Israeli parliament.
They also erected a giant screen which beamed messages of support and speeches for the settlers' cause.
An influential Israeli rabbi called on the army, in an interview published Thursday, to disobey orders to evacuate the 21 Gaza settlements.
"It would be a sin to evacuate (the settlements). It's forbidden and soldiers must say just that to their commanders," Rabbi Avraham Shapira, who serves as one of the settlers' spiritual leaders, told the Basheva periodical.
The settlers have held a series of protests against the disengagement plan in recent months, including a human chain stretching from the Gaza Strip to Jerusalem.