Thousands attend National Demonstration for Palestine in Dublin
THOUSANDS of people descended on Dublin on Saturday to join the National Demonstration for Palestine.
Organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), the event saw supporters march from the Garden of Remembrance to Molesworth Street near Dáil Éireann.
It also heard speakers call for an end to the bombardment in Gaza, as well as criticising the Irish Government for its lack of action.
Addressing those gathered, IPSC chairperson Zoë Lawlor said the 1948 Nakba, which saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their land, was still ongoing.
Speakers called for Palestinians to be given the right of return (Image: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie)
"We commemorate 77 years of the Nakba that never ended and reaffirm, as always, our total commitment to the Palestinian people's right of return," she said.
"Return is their right, it is their will and it will happen."
She added: "The Nakba is ongoing because of the decades of impunity granted to apartheid Israel by the international community — including this State.
"This impunity has led to and enabled 19 months of genocide, of people starved, bombed, maimed, ethnically cleansed, incarcerated, tortured and 19 months where the rogue state of Israel has committed atrocity after atrocity against the Palestinians — openly, brazenly and with no consequence." 'Whatever action is necessary'
Ronan Shortall of political news website The Ditch also accused the State of complicity as he spoke to those in attendance.
He said no action had been taken by the State over reports that Irish airspace is used to transport weapons to Israel and that US military flights are allowed to land in Ireland en route to Tel Aviv.
Shortall also accused the government of dragging its feet on the Occupied Territories Bill, ultimately rendering any government condemnation of Israel 'empty rhetoric'.
"Don't listen to the condemnations without actions from government politicians because they're worth nothing to the children being slaughtered in Gaza every day," he said.
The government was accused of dragging its feet on the Occupied Territories Bill (Image: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie)
"This government will silently continue to support Israel through their deeds and through their omissions.
"It is up to us to take whatever action is necessary, including through civil disobedience, to challenge the State's complicity in Israel's evil genocide."
On Friday, Táoiseach Micheál Martin signed a joint statement with six other leaders calling on Israel to end its blockade of aid into Gaza, calling it a 'man-made humanitarian catastrophe'.
In its latest briefing on Sunday morning, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said a further 96 people had been killed in the preceding 24 hours, bringing the death toll to more than 53,000.
It also said that following strikes on the Indonesian Hospital — the main such facility serving people in northern Gaza — all public hospitals in the region were now out of service.
See More: Dublin, Gaza, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestine
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