Up to 4,000 people turned out in Dublin for a rally sympathizing with the Palestinian people.
Leaders of the protest called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Ireland. The organizers, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity campaign, said the protest was also being staged protest over the Irish Government’s decision to abstain from voting in a United Nations resolution calling for a commission of inquiry to be set up to investigate Israel's action in Gaza.
More than 1,600 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 65 Israelis, all but two soldiers, have been killed since the conflict began in early July.
Protesters marched down O’Connell Street from the Garden of Remembrance to the Department of Foreign Affairs, on St Stephen’s Green. Similar protests took place across the country.
In Galway, 160 people marched from Eyre Square to the Spanish Arch. Protests also took place in Cork, Derry, Limerick, Armagh, Killarney, Clonmel, Nenagh, Bundoran, Ennis, and Sligo. This is the fourth Saturday in a row that the protests have been held.
In Dublin marchers chanted, “free Palestine, free Gaza.” Protesters carried signs which read ‘Stop the slaughter, end the siege’, ‘boycott Israel’, ‘Obama could stop this with one phone call’, ‘boycott and Israeli goods stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.’
Fliers were handed out calling on people to boycott Israeli goods.
Sinn Fein’s Chris Andrews and Lynn Boylan were among the protesters. They carried a banner which read “end the siege in Gaza.”
The Dublin protest was organized by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and supported by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Gaza Action Ireland, TEEU (The Power Union), Academics for Palestine, Irish Anti-War Movement, Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance.
Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan appealed to both sides to show restraint and said we must hope that intensive diplomatic efforts will be successful in reinstating a ceasefire.
An Israeli Embassy spokesperson said those protesting in Ireland do not seem to have concern for the Palestinian people in Gaza. He said “if they did, they would be protesting against Hamas which is inflicting terror on its people."
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