Several dozen people gathered in the centre of Belfast on Thursday as part of the ongoing campaign urging people to focus their thoughts on what is happening in Gaza.
The gathering outside the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Office on Chichester Street was the latest of hundreds that have taken place across the north over the course of the last 19 months.
Sligo-based paediatrician Dr Ali Al Najjar, on the medical staff at Sligo University Hospital, just days ago lost nine nieces and nephews in an Israeli air strike, the gathering heard.
Pro-Palestine supporters hold a protest at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast City Centre. PICTURE: MAL MCCCANN
The names of the dead children were called out.
The police presence around the protest was light. Two police vehicles and several officers were stationed close by.
Three cars beeped their horns as they passed, two likely in support, the other in what looked like a moment of frustration with other drivers.
Five teenagers ran through the group at one point, one shouting: “Beep, beep.” Most others just stepped off the pavement and walked around.
Protestors at the Northern Ireland Office in Belfast city centre. PICTURE: MAL MCCCANN
This protest was aimed directly at the UK government. It included chants that the government, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer specifically, is supporting genocide.
Protestors moved from the NIO headquarters to the Victoria Centre around the corner. The police did not intervene.
Those listening at this latest gathering heard the poem of the activist and poet Refaat Alareer, killed in an air strike in December 2023.
It ends: “If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a story.”