Thousands of people have joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Dublin, calling for sanctions on Israel and its immediate expulsion from the United Nations.
The large crowd marched from the Garden of Remembrance through the Irish capital towards its parliament buildings, one day after an election was formally announced.
The activists expressed anger at the Irish Government’s failure to pass legislation designed to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in Palestine before the dissolution of the Dail parliament on Friday.
Demonstrators, some wearing keffiyehs and waving banners and Palestinian flags, stopped for a series of speeches outside Leinster House.
Speakers led chants of “free, free Palestine” and addressed the large crowd on the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign chairwoman Zoe Lawlor said: “Palestinians know and we know – the ICJ has ruled it – occupation is illegal, apartheid is illegal, forced deplacement is illegal and our Government has to name these crimes.
“Denying that it is apartheid and genocide is a way to avoid sanctioning these crimes and we won’t tolerate it any longer.
“We are sick of endless words of concern and condemnations, it is meaningless unless it is turned into action.”
It is the 11th national rally since October 2023 and protesters again demanded sanctions on Israel.
The march called for states to stop arming Israel, an end to the use of Irish airspace for transporting weapons, and for “an end to Israel’s genocidal assault on the people of Gaza”.
They called for the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill, along with the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and legislation on arms embargo.
In addition, it demanded that the Government ceases trade with Israel and refuses any planned return of the Israeli ambassador from Tel Aviv.
Speakers at the rally included Gazan activist Mazen Abughali, Palestinian activist and videographer Abdaal Salim, Palestinian photojournalist Eman Mohammed from Gaza, People Before Profit candidate Richard Boyd Barrett and UpLift campaigns director Brian Cuthbert.
Other election candidates at the rally included People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy, Labour leader Ivana Bacik, independent candidate Clare Daly and Social Democrat Sinead Gibney.
