Hundreds gathered today, January 24th, at 1pm, for the Dublin March for Palestine from Bernardo Square (City Hall) to the Department of Foreign Affairs to “let the government know that we haven’t gone away”, according to the Ireland–Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) on Instagram. They further added: “We are still demanding SANCTIONS NOW to support freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people.” Below the demand, they listed demands for the government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill and an arms embargo, in addition to demands for the Central Bank of Ireland to stop “Funding Genocide” and for Shannon Airport to stop serving the US military.
IPSC Vice-Chairperson Fatin Al Tamimi stated on social media: “The Irish people continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, while the Irish government continues sitting on its hands. We demand yet again the government move beyond rhetoric and take concrete action to help end [the] genocide in Gaza and the campaign of ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. As Trump announces his vile Board of Peace made up of war criminals, war mongers and financial vultures, and western powers try to gaslight the world into believing there is any kind of meaningful ‘ceasefire’, we call on all who stand with Palestine to escalate protests to force governments to enact sanctions and to hold the genocidal apartheid state of Israel and its enablers to account.”
The protest drew hundreds of people, including representatives from Labour, Trinity Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS), and the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT).
In a statement to the University Times, TCDSU President Grace McNally said, “It went well. There were a huge number of people there”, and “we shut down the roads”. She added: “They organised it well, getting so many people there was great, especially with the weather.” She also said: “For Trinity BDS and TDCSU, there’s a lot coming, we’re working and developing in the background to get things up.” She listed ending Trinity’s contract with Coca Cola and the Dual BA with Columbia as projects to look for. She added: “As always with protests for Palestine, it’s [about] reminding people. It’s frustrating to see Palestine being trendy.” She went on to say that “Some people care for a few months and love it, and then it dies down, and they don’t care again”, adding “these protests, big or small, [remind us that there is] still a genocide going on, and we need to be able to say that. There is no ceasefire; every lie about a ceasefire has people manipulated”. “We need to say ‘no this isn’t true, there’s still a genocide going on.’” She finished by saying: “There’s still so much that we need to do.”
