Protestors plague Bernie Sanders at Trinity College Event

"Free Free Palestine" could be heard loudly within the walls of Trinity College East's theatre on Friday night as Irish Times' columnist Fintan O'Toole interview US Senator Bernie Sanders on his new book It's OK to be Angry About Capitalism.

About a dozen or so protestors gathered outside the building which usually operates as an examination hall for Trinity students holding Palestinian flags and signs which read "Boycott Apartheid Israel".

The protestors also chanted “Bernie Sanders you can’t hide, you’re denying genocide”.

The consistent chanting did not stop the event from going ahead, which was to promote the Senator's new book.

Protestors in Trinity College Dublin protesting US Senator Bernie Sander's failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

At the talk, Sanders discussed the prescience of issues such as wealth inequality, global warming, climate change, healthcare, and artificial intelligence.

On the subject of wealth inequality the Senator said "Wealth inequality doesn't happen by accident. People are in despair".

Towards the end of the event Sanders was interrupted by a woman who walked up to the top of the room while recording on her phone. She asked Senator Sanders why he had not called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

As security intervened, host Fintan O’Toole said that the woman could “ask her question”. However, when asked by the journalist “to let the Senator answer the question”, the protester continued shouting while still filming on her phone.

Sanders then said he wasn’t going to answer the question because “I don’t like people disrupting me”.

Continuing Mr Sanders said: “If a meeting is disrupted every day, what will you do? You won’t have a meeting".

Sanders has been critical of the actions of US president Joe Biden and this week voted against a funding package that included $14 billion in additional military assistance for Israel.

However protestors took issue with the Senator for saying “you can have a permanent ceasefire with an organisation like Hamas” on CNN last November when asked if supported a ceasefire in Gaza.

The former Democratic President nominee hopeful said that he supported a "humanitarian pause".

Speaking at the event the American politician said: “I’ve talked about my views on Gaza and I am doing everything I can to end a horrific and terrible war.

“My dream would be that the President finally wakes up to what I think the American people want and to say, ‘you know what Mr Netanyahu, you’re not going to get another nickel until you stop that damn war and treat the Palestinian people with the respect and dignity they deserve.

“I have nightmares about what is going on, it is a horror. Believe it or not, I’m trying to do my best to end that war.”

Sanders has been critical of the actions of US president Joe Biden and this week voted against a funding package that included $14 billion (€13b) in new military assistance for Israel.

“I will be damned if I’m going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people,” said Sanders of the package which went on to be approved by the US Senate.

However Sanders, in spite of his criticism of the administration's support for Israel said that President Joe Biden is a “decent human being” and that he has worked with him on some “really good legislation”, which was a $1.9 trillion package during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sanders is in Ireland to promote his new book ‘It’s OK To Be Angry At Capitalism’ and had to postpone part of a tour in England to vote against the funding package for Israel.

Sanders, who rose to international attention in 2016 when he ran against Hilary Clinton for the bid to become the Democratic Party Presidential nominee said that he believed that he would have beaten Trump in the 2026 presidential election.

Speaking on the state of current political discourse the politician said "The more important and issue the less it is discussed" continueing he said "the more irrelavant it is the more it is discussed".