Hundreds protest over Gaza violence
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Dublin tonight to protest over the deepening violence in the Gaza conflict.
As around 300 people staged a rally outside the Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge, Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin condemned the latest Israeli air strike which killed at least 45 civilians at two United Nations-run schools.
Politicians, academics, union leaders and members of the Palestinian-Irish and Lebanese-Irish communities addressed the rally which marched to the US and Egyptian Embassies.
Demonstrators called on the Irish government to break diplomatic relations with Israel in light of the current offensive against Gaza.
Mr Martin later said he was appalled by the indiscriminate attack by Israeli air forces on the schools which resulted in so many civilian fatalities, including children, who were simply sheltering from the conflict taking place around them.
“The death and suffering, as well as the humanitarian deprivation, now being inflicted on the people of Gaza as a result of the continuation of the Israeli Operation Cast Lead cannot be justified in any way and must now be brought to an immediate end,” he said.
“I again would like to make the strongest appeal for an immediate cessation of all violence in and from Gaza and for the putting in place of an effective and sustainable ceasefire and the facilitation of urgent humanitarian access.
“The international community must re-double its efforts to halt the carnage now taking place in Gaza. Ireland will continue to work closely with our EU and international partners to achieve the earliest diplomatic resolution of this crisis.”
At the US Embassy, protestors demanded an end to the current policy of the Bush administration.
Meanwhile demonstrations outside the Egyptian Embassy were aimed at putting pressure on the Egyptian government to open the border crossings with Gaza to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and to allow citizens out.
Richard Boyd Barrett, of the Irish Anti-War Movement, said: “The murderous week-long assault on Gaza by Israel, that has claimed the lives of over 500 lives men women and children – wiping out entire families – and now the disgraceful decision to invade Gaza is rapidly increasing the death toll and bringing medical services and civilian infrastructure to the brink of collapse.
“Israel’s brazen justification of this attack and its callous indifference to the civilian casualties, is a shocking confirmation that the Israeli government see Palestinians as a sub-human group whose lives count for less than other human beings.”
Labour’s Eamon Gilmore said statements of condemnation from individual countries are no longer enough.
“No other democratic state would be allowed to behave in the way Israel has done for the last ten days. Resolute international action, using diplomatic and other pressure, is now required to bring an end to this conflict,” he added.
