Dublin protest against 'blood diamonds' taking place today
With Valentine's Day around the corner, protesters will be taking to the streets of the capital today to remind shoppers of the dangers of 'blood diamonds'.
Demonstrators are due to gather on Grafton Street this morning calling for a boycott of so-called 'conflict diamonds', the name for gems that are exploited to finance wars.
Activists will also target jewellery stores in London and Manchester as part of an international day of action.
Sean Clinton,of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, says 'blood diamonds' aren't just limited to South Africa: “Most of the value in the diamond chain is accrued further up the production line, when they are cut and polished the value increases exponentially, and that is where the real lucrative side of the diamond industry is.
“We know from information published that Israel is one of the largest exporters of cut and polished diamonds,
“And that is where most of the revenue from the diamond industry is going, it is going to Israel and it is helping to fund the Israeli army to the tune of about a billion dollars per year.”
