Over 200 protest US military use of Irish airspace at Shannon Airport
The rally was organised by the Limerick branch of Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and Shannonwatch.
"Failing the stopping of American military going through, at the very minimum, the Government should be inspecting the planes to see what's on them and to ensure they're not carrying weapons," said Zoë Lawlor, Chairperson of the IPSC.
"We also are demanding sanctions from the government on Israel. I mean, the situation now is catastrophic. They're going to occupy Gaza City, intensifying the genocide. It's going to be even more bloody.
"They're deliberately starving people to death, and it is because of the impunity that all states, including Ireland, have granted to Israel that we've gotten to this stage.
"We want the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill with services included, and we want the Central Bank to stop regulating Israel's war bond."
'Waiting for your own death'
Tamara Nijim is a Palestinian woman living in Ireland for the past two years. She has been joined by her sister Marah, whom she managed to here on a scholarship three months ago.
Marah addressed the rally on the situation she fled from.
"All I can say is it's a nightmare that is not stopping. It's a nightmare we're not walking from it. It's waiting for your own death by seconds, waiting to see yourself as an orphan, waiting to see your home bombed, waiting to lose your friends, waiting to be killed.
"That's what I can say. It's worse than a movie. It's the worst thing ever. It's a war. It's genocide."
Tamara says it's very difficult for them to leave family behind in Gaza. She moved here one month before the war to finish her studies
"We're here at Shannon today because our families are really, really struggling. They're starving and now they can die any minute, and it's very, very difficult.
"We're here to object in what is going on. And because this is genocide going in there and we try to stop as much as we can the things that are happening there. Because any rocket, any bomb that could pass, could be the reason for a family death in a couple of seconds, a couple of minutes"
Tamara says there is a price for speaking out but she and her sister cannot stand by and say nothing
"We're here to talk about what's going on but it's still very difficult, because there's a price for speaking up about the situation, because once you speak up, your name goes all over the internet.
"You might also lose your family, but we all have something to lose, and we have to speak for the people of Palestine. We should not be also only thinking about our only family, because everybody in Palestine is our family."
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