One of the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent months has taken place in Dublin with marchers estimated in numbers exceeding 10,000 people.
Loudspeaker-led chants calling for the immediate introduction of sanctions against Israel mixed with noise from drums, bodhrans and car alarms as the march made its way from Parnell Square to Molesworth Street, to a rally facing Leinster House.
A cheer leader led the protesters in chants calling for the freedom of Palestine “from the river to the sea” and the immediate introduction of sanctions against Israel, for almost an hour, as the marchers filed into Molesworth Street from Dawson Street.
Addressing the gathering Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairwoman Zoë Lawlor condemned what she said was Israeli targeting of children.
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Ms Lawlor said the “official figure of 40,000 dead includes 17,000 children”. She said more than 20,000 children were estimated to be lost, detained or buried under rubble.
Some 34,000 children have been wounded with many more orphaned, she said.
Referring to Gaza she said: “With 7 per cent of Gaza’s children now murdered, lost or wounded, it’s clear that children are deliberate targets of apartheid Israel’s genocidal onslaught.”
Referring to the Taoiseach Simon Harris request to the Attorney General to review trade agreements with Israel she said: “We don’t need reviews ... We need sanctions.”
Earlier, addressing the media in Parnell Square, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said while the march showed “there’s huge support among the population for justice, for the Palestinians, for a ceasefire, for the an end to the occupation, unfortunately, still, the rhetoric that we hear from Government is not matched by foreign action.
“It’s now time for sanctions, not to talk about them, not to take advice, but to act. Government has had opportunity after opportunity to back the occupied territories legislation, to take action in terms of divestment, and they failed, and that failure now needs to cease.”
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