Pro-Palestinian protests to take place across the country this evening

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign has organised demonstrations up and down the country in order to protest the indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza strip, which is currently under siege by Israeli forces.

On Saturday October 7th, Hamas launched a surprise attack on an international Israeli trance music festival taking place on the Gaza border, killing 260 and abducting a dozen.

The IDF have responded with a coordinated series of military attacks, bombarding Gaza with air strikes, cutting off food, water and fuel supplies, as well as electricity for the territory — a densely populated area which normally has a population of 2.3 million people.

As of the writing of this post, Al Jazeera reports that the death toll now stands at 1,078 Palestinians and more than 1,200 people killed in Israel — since the October 7th Hamas assault.

The IPSP has asked its supporters to meet at the Spire on O'Connell street at 5:30pm to march in solidarity with besieged Palestinians and call for an end to the Israeli military bombardment of Gaza. There will also be pro-Palestinian protests taking place in Limerick, Waterford, Newry, Naas and Cork tonight.

🇵🇸 Stand with Palestine. Join us at the Spire, O'Connell Street, Dublin, Wednesday 11th October, 5.30pm
We will also have a demonstration on Saturday, details to follow. #FreePalestine #EndIsraeliApartheid pic.twitter.com/0SNBDRbnjj

— IPSC (@ipsc48) October 9, 2023

Chair Zoe Lawlor believes Irish people can empathize the colonial struggles of the Palestinian people.

Speaking to Newstalk Lawlor stated: “I think as a colonised people, we recognise colonialism and we recognise people struggling for freedom, justice and dignity,”

“People recognise that when people are oppressed you have to try and offer them as much solidarity as you can and try and do something to support their struggle for freedom.”

Lawlor also urged the Irish Government to back the Occupied Territories Bill, a measure that would ban imports made on Israeli-occupied land — including the Golan Heights— in order to enact sanctions on the country “for its decades long crimes against the Palestinian people."

Such a bill would ban any goods or services produced, even partially, in the Israeli-occupied territories. Passed by the Seanad in 2018 and backed by a majority in the Dáil, including Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil, the bill has not yet been progressed.

Speaking in the Dáil early this afternoon, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar critiqued the severity of Israel's military response, warning that Israel's international support will "evaporate quickly" if they continue to target civilians.

Leo Varadker. Credit: Sam Boal

“There must be no attacks on civilian infrastructure," Varadkar stated. If it’s unacceptable for the president of Russia to target power stations or civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the same must apply to the Israeli government and the actions it takes on targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

Demonstrations in front of the Dáil and outside the Israeli embassy in Ballsbridge on Monday saw hundreds turn out in support of Palestine, with speeches from PBP TD Richard Boyd Barrett and a number of Palestinian citizens.

Two men were arrested by Gardaí at the protest, for throwing red paint at the door of the embassy as a condemnation of IDF violence.

A full list of scheduled IPSPC protests can be found here.