2,000 March in Dublin: 'Defend the Palestinians!'
by 45	03 Aug 2014
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At least 2000 people marched from the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city centre today, 2 August, 2014, to call for an end to the violence in Gaza. Marchers chanted, “free Palestine, free Gaza,” while protestors carried signs which read ‘Stop the slaughter, end the siege’, ‘boycott Israel’, ‘Obama could stop this with one phone call’, ‘boycott Israel goods stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.’ Sinn Fein Cllr Chris Andrews and Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan were among those who led the march, carrying a banner which read ‘end the siege of Gaza.’ Fliers were handed out calling on people to boycott Israeli goods. Thousands of people are taking to the streets across Ireland today, to call for an end to the violence in Gaza. This is the fourth Saturday in a row that the protests have been held. It is organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and supported by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Gaza Action Ireland, TEEU (The Power Union), Academics for Palestine, Irish Anti-War Movement, Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance. Protests will also be held in other towns and cities including Cork, Derry, Limerick, Galway, Armagh, Killarney, Clomel, Nenagh, Bundoran, Ennis and Sligo. IPSC national coordinator Kevin Squires said: “The Minister for Foreign Affairs has made it clear that Ireland will not support any meaningful concrete action aimed at ending either the Israeli onslaught on Gaza or Israeli impunity in general. “We find this very disappointing, as Ireland has supported sanctions on other countries in the past, so why not Israel? Therefore we are asking people to join us in bringing our anger to the government and demand they take action that will help end Israel’s occupation and serial violations of international law.” Mr Squires said the IPSC wants the Government to call for the suspension of Israel from the Euro-Med Agreement, for an international and EU arms embargo on Israel, to enact legislation to ban the importation of Israeli goods, and to expel the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland. Mr Squires also urged people to join the growing Boycott Israel movement, “Many businesses, notably The Exchequer bar in Dublin, and the whole town of Kinvara have pledged to boycott Israeli products. The trade union of retail workers, Mandate, has called on shops not to sell Israeli goods and last night Irish rugby legend Gordon D’Arcy tweeted his support for the boycott campaign.” Since fighting began on July 8th, more than 1,650 Palestinians — mostly civilians - have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded, according to al-Kidra. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, its highest death toll since the 2006 Lebanon war. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/some-2-000-dublin-marc