Thousands of people have marched through Dublin city centre on Saturday afternoon in support of Palestinians and in opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Protesters marched from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Merrion Square chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Israeli ambassador; out out out”.
The event was organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign group with representatives from People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats present.
A number of people carried Palestinian flags and wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves carrying signs which stated “Stop the genocide in Gaza” and “Arms Embargo in Israel now”.
Similar events have taken place across the world, including a large demonstration in central London, where around 100,000 people are believed to have attended.
Pro-Palestinian protesters also held a demonstration outside the BBC’s Belfast headquarters.
People Before Profit Assembly member Gerry Carroll said the protest aimed to challenge how the BBC had covered between Israel and Hamas.
In Dublin, Zoe Lawlor, chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told those gathered: “Make no mistake, we are witnessing genocide atrocities by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
“This is an emergency situation. Palestinian lives depend on action. There must be serious sanctions for these crimes. We are not just here to show solidarity, that is not enough.
“We have to do the work. From here and from Palestine, the calls are for us to pressure our Government and demand they act.”
Ms Lawlor said the group was insisting that the Government urgently uses its voice and voice, especially at EU level, to call for an immediate ceasefire and to end all Israeli bombing and forced displacement of the Palestinian people.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said his party was continuing to call for the Israeli ambassador to Ireland to be expelled while economic, political and trade sanctions should also be imposed on Israel.
Mr Boyd Barrett said “words of concern” from the Government was not good enough and action was needed.
“We intend to put irresistible pressure through people power, through protest, through campaigning, on our Government and some of the Opposition parties who so far have failed to actually call for meaningful sanctions that hold Israel accountable and actually put pressure on Israel to stop the crimes it is committing,” he said.
Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy said it shouldn’t be controversial to condemn a war crime “regardless of who it is that is carrying it out”.
“It shouldn’t be controversial to condemn the bombing, the bombardment of civilian infrastructure ... of hospitals, schools and ambulances regardless of who it is that is doing it,” he said.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said the military action in Gaza was becoming “a genocide”.
“You can’t bomb a population half the size of Louth, you can’t starve a population and deprive them of water, electricity and call it anything other than what it is,” he said.
Among those taking part in the protest were Ahmed Barhoum and his wife Aya Ammar, who are originally from Egypt.
“People are dying in Gaza, Israel are killing so many people,” Mr Barhoum said. “This has to be stopped.”
Ms Ammar added: “Children are being killed, there’s no food, no water, no electricity, no humanity.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin said on Saturday that all Irish citizens and people with dual Irish-Palestinian citizenship have been accounted for in Gaza.
There are around 35 to 40 people with Irish citizenship or dual citizenship in the region, as well as their dependents.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1′s This Week programme, Ms Martin said it was her understanding that Irish embassies in the region have made contact with these people and accounted for their whereabouts, and that efforts were being made to get them out of Gaza where possible.
Speaking at the Green Party’s national convention on Saturday, leader Eamon Ryan devoted the opening passages of his keynote address to the attack by Hamas on Israel and the Israelis response.
Earlier in the day there was a debate about the situation in the Middle East where South MEP Grace O’Sullivan repeated her strong criticism the response of EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen lacked balance and leadership.
Mr Ryan began by condemning the Hamas attack. However, he added: “We can deplore what Hamas did while at the same time understanding that there will never be peace unless the rights of the Palestinian people are also delivered upon.
“We were one of the first Governments to call on the Israeli armed forces not to target civilians in Gaza as they hit back at Hamas. Such thinking comes from the lessons we have learned from our own troubles. The bombing of civilians is never justified and is never going to work.
“The oppression of the people in Gaza and the West Bank has to stop now. The humanitarian imperative requires an immediate cease fire.”
