TODAY, Saturday 4th October the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, supported by more than 175 Irish civil society groups, is holding a National Demonstration for Palestine to mark two years of Apartheid Israel’s genocide in Gaza in which it has slaughtered more than 66,000 Palestinians, and protest the Irish government’s continued refusal to hold the Apartheid state accountable.
It will be the seventeenth such national mobilisation since October 2023 - all of which have seen tens of thousands flood Dublin's streets in opposition to Israel's slaughter in Gaza.
Protestors will assemble at 12.30pm (NOTE EARLIER THAN USUAL TIME) at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square, and will march from there to Leinster House for a rally outside the Dáil. There will be a disability access point outside the back gate of Trinity, at the intersection of D’Olier Street and College Green.
Speakers at the rally will include Gazan writer and academic Yousef Aljamal, genocide survivor Dua'a Ahmed, Flotilla participant Paul Murphy TD, disability rights campaigner Sophia Mulvany, and IPSC Chairperson Zoë Lawlor. With performances from Grooveline, Sexy Tadhg, and Aoife Kelly & Eoghan Scott.Speaking ahead of the protest, IPSC Chairperson Zoë Lawlor said, "Two years into this genocide, and Israel's unrelenting genocide continues with at least 66,000 people murdered in Gaza, and another 900 in the West Bank. There has been a savage food and aid blockade for months — the only food available distributed by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, spaces that have become sites of slaughter as more than 2,500 unarmed aid-seekers have been murdered by occupation forces. Between 50 and 100 people are still being killed every day - and more than 100 more Palestinians were murdered over the past 24 hours.
"We have also seen the illegal interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, and the detention of hundreds of activists, including many Irish citizens, trying to deliver aid to Gaza.
"And the response of Western powers has been to keep sending guns, bombs, and tech to murder Palestinians. To distract, obfuscate, and feign outrage at comments made by people who are angry and upset by genocide. To arrest, assault, and now criminalise as 'terrorist' peaceful anti-genocide protesters. To try to gaslight us all into thinking this is normal. To do everything they possibly can to continue business as usual with this appalling genocidal state.
"And sadly, Ireland is little different. Simon Harris has called Israel's actions 'genocide', 'unconscionable' and 'unacceptable' — yet the Irish government is barely lifting a finger to end Ireland's deep complicity in this genocide. It won't act to stop the Central Bank offshoring of the processing Israel's genocide bonds, it won't stop the use of Shannon Airport and Irish airspace for transiting weapons to Israel, it won't stop dual-use exports to Israel. It won't ban the state investment fund — that invests our taxes — from investing in companies that profit from Israel's illegal colonial settlements. It won't even commit to ensuring the new Occupied Territories Bill bans both trade and services with illegal Israeli settlements - in fact despite promising the swift implementation of the OTB, we are still waiting.
"Let's make this Saturday, 4th October the biggest Palestine demo in Irish history, and together tell the government that there can be no more business as usual, no more pathetic excuses and hand-wringing statements — we want sanctions now!"
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