{"id":103578,"date":"2025-10-05T03:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T03:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103578\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T03:17:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T03:17:13","slug":"thousands-take-part-in-pro-palestine-march-in-dublin-calling-for-sanctions-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/103578\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands take part in pro-Palestine march in Dublin, calling for sanctions \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dua\u2019a Ahmed arrived in Ireland from Gaza<\/a> two months ago to begin a scholarship programme in Limerick, leaving behind her two young sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to [communicate with them]. Whenever I call them and they don\u2019t answer, I lose myself,\u201d she told a pro-Palestine march, attended by thousands, in Dublin on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Though Ms Ahmed is glad to be in Ireland, she misses her family, including 11-year-old Hussan and eight-year-old Ramadan. <\/p>\n

Speaking outside the D\u00e1il<\/a>, she said she wanted them to be safe. Despite the ongoing bombardment of her homeland, she maintains a faith in humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel optimistic because all we have is to hope,\u201d she said. \u201cThe world is not silent. There are demonstrations like this one in Dublin and everywhere else … I hope a ceasefire will take place now in Gaza. For all the blood and the children who died and were killed in horrific ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahmed was among those addressing the thousands who attended Saturday\u2019s march which, its organisers estimated, was more than 25,000 people. <\/p>\n

Walking from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Leinster House, it was the seventeenth national mobilisation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign<\/a> (IPSC) since October 2023.<\/p>\n

It called on the Irish Government<\/a> to sanction Israel<\/a>, and participants, including left-wing political groups and trade unions, held banners and waved Palestinian flags.<\/p>\n

The protest came after 16 Irish citizens were among hundreds detained by Israel <\/a>after it intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, carrying aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Lannon (right) with fellow members of the Limerick branch of the IPSC. Photograph: Cian O’Connell \"ProtestersProtesters march towards Leinster House
\nduring Saturday’s pro-Palestine rally. Photograph: Cian O’Connell <\/p>\n

Many attending the march were keen to highlight flaws in the Gaza ceasefire deal put forward by US president Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that stops the murder and killing of Palestinians in Gaza is welcome. And anything that can be done to get the humanitarian aid in is really essential as well,\u201d said John Lannon, a member of the Limerick branch of the IPSC who has been organising marches every Saturday for the last two years to draw attention to the situation in Gaza. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s never going to be a lasting or proper peace there until Palestinians are part of the process and are consulted about their future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamia Tadjine and Eli Kane are members of United Against Racism, a grassroots organisation in Ireland built in response to concerns over the far right. <\/p>\n

Ms Tadjine also highlighted the lack of Palestinian input in the proposed ceasefire. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not optimistic,\u201d she said. \u201cMy worry is that, if this ceasefire plan goes through and Israel stops bombing, [then] what\u2019s happening in the West Bank with people being sporadically murdered and pushed out of their homes will happen in Gaza. It\u2019ll just be a slow burn of what\u2019s happening now.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We have to go on\u2019: New flotilla sails toward Gaza as Israel detains Irish activistsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Mr Kane was equally pessimistic but saw cause for optimism in \u201cthe huge amount of sustained public pressure and mass mobilisation\u201d around the world, including support for the freedom flotilla movement and the recent Italian workers\u2019 strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been involved in Palestine solidarity activism for coming on a decade … and never have I seen such a huge and sustained movement for Palestine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Leinster House, People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy drew further attention to the activists on-board the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted in recent days by Israeli forces before it could reach Gaza. Mr Murphy was speaking alongside Jenna Almai, whose mother Maureen Almai was one of the Irish citizens on the flotilla.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are bringing baby formula, bringing food, bringing medicine to the people of Gaza who are being deliberately starved \u2013 and they are illegally kidnapped in international waters in an act of piracy,\u201d Mr Murphy said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey are cable-tied with their arms, their sleep is interrupted, they\u2019re abused by the fascist minister Ben Gvir, and they\u2019re imprisoned.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Sally Rooney says she cannot safely enter UK without facing arrest over Palestine Action supportOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Footage on social media appeared to show the Israeli security minister shouting at flotilla campaigners detained by the Israeli military. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two people were arrested for public order offences after a separate protest attempted to breach a garda cordon near the Dublin Port Tunnel.<\/p>\n

Videos posted online show incapacitant spray being used on protesters by the garda Public Order Unit in the East Wall area.<\/p>\n

A garda cordon had been established to prevent the crowd from blocking the Port Tunnel. <\/p>\n

\u201cAn Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na attempted to engage with the protest group over the course of the afternoon to disperse the protest in a voluntary manner,\u201d garda\u00ed said in a statement, adding that despite this engagement, there was a \u201cco-ordinated effort to physically breach\u201d the cordon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of the Garda National Public Order Unit, dressed in \u2019soft cap\u2019 uniform, supported by frontline uniformed garda\u00ed, intervened to prevent a breach of the Garda cordon which included the use of incapacitant spray on protesters.\u201d <\/p>\n

In London almost 500 people were arrested over pro-Palestine protests, which are taking place in defiance of calls by politicians and police bosses to reconsider after the Manchester synagogue terror<\/a> attack. The Metropolitan Police arrested protesters for offences including supporting the banned group Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

In central Rome on Saturday large crowds assembled for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza. \u2013 Additional reporting PA, Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dua\u2019a Ahmed arrived in Ireland from Gaza two months ago to begin a scholarship programme in Limerick, leaving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,4767,52,18,13,14,3761,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,72,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-103578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-dail-eireann","11":"tag-dublin","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-gaza-strip","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-palestine","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}