A NUMBER OF Black Lives Matter demonstrations took place across Ireland today following the shooting dead of five US police officers in Dallas and two further recent shootings of black men by US law enforcement.
The protests took place in Cork, Dublin and Galway with hundreds of people turning up in support of the cause.
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The demonstrations were organised by the Anti-Racism Network Ireland, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland and other similar groupings.
The demonstrations heard speeches from a range of speakers and there were also rap and poetry performances.
The Dublin protest was held on O’Connell Street while the Cork protest was at Daunt Square and the Galway demonstration was at Eyre Square.
Speaking ahead of the protests, Hassan Ould Moctar of Anti-Racism Network Ireland said that while black males were five times more likely than white males to be killed by police in the US, institutional prejudice also exists in ireland as evidenced by the direct provision system.
The Irish demonstrations came as US President Barack Obama addressed an emotional memorial for five slain policemen in Dallas.
The president, accompanied by First Lady Michelle Obama, leaned heavily on scripture as he ministered to a country stunned by gun violence and torn asunder by race and politics.
“I know that Americans are struggling right now with what we’ve witnessed over the past week,” he said.
A succession of shootings, each racially charged, has led to a sense that “the deepest fault lines of our democracy have suddenly been exposed, perhaps even widened,” Obama said.
Last week, the fatal police shootings of two black men, Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota, prompted nationwide anger, with thousands of protesters taking to the streets from coast to coast.
They also seemingly triggered the deadly rampage in Dallas by black Afghanistan war veteran Micah Johnson
Johnson, 25, used a high-powered rifle to kill five police officers and wound nine others in a sniper attack late Thursday.
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- With reporting by © – AFP 2016
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