At 1pm on Thursday 16th October, a crowd of keffiyehs and Palestinian flags could be seen in Front Square as students and staff gathered for the nationwide Walkout for Gaza. The walkout aimed to display solidarity for occupied Palestine and to advocate for the cutting of ties with Israel.
The protest made its way from Front Square to the General Post Office on O’Connell Street, where it was joined by other activist groups, including Grandmothers Against Racism and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Students Union. Support for the protest was loud and plentiful, with trucks honking their horns in solidarity and passersby shouting words of encouragement.
Many activist groups endorsed the walkout, including the Student Neutrality Front, TCD Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Academia for Palestine TCD, Students4Change, and TCD People Before Profit.
Speaking to The University Times from the protest, Chairperson of Trinity BDS Harry Johnston stated that “we need to recognise that the current tactics that we’re seeing used in Ireland, these kind of national marches every month, are not moving the bar in terms of government policy”. Johnston said that “we have huge amounts of public support, and we need to channel that into more direct action to create a serious [sic] disruptance so that government has no choice but to comply with our demands – which are to end trade with Israel in its entirety.”
Among speakers at the protest was People Before Profit Councillor, Darragh Adelaide, who urged protestors to continue fighting for the liberation of Palestine. “You always have a choice. You have a choice between action and inaction.” Adelaide encouraged workplace action against Israel, stating that there are lessons to be learned from the Dunnes Stores boycott of apartheid South Africa in the 1980s. Speaking on the legal constraints around workplace action, Adelaide said, “When laws are unfair, you have to fucking break them”.
Speaking with The University Times, a student in attendance said; “I came to this protest because I just feel like everyone should. It doesn’t take a lot to know that genocide shouldn’t be going on.”
Despite the palpable support of passersby, there were some onlookers expressing disagreement with the aims of the protest, with one man shouting, “Celebrate the ceasefire, the hostages are home”.
Donald Trump’s 20-step ceasefire plan was implemented last week. Since this implementation, Aljazeera has reported that at least three Palestinians were killed in recent days, including the shooting of prominent Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi.
