UP TO 7,000 people have taken part in one of the largest protests yet in Dublin against Israeli military action in the Gaza strip.
The demonstrators assembled at the Spire on O’Connell Street at 2pm before marching towards the Israeli embassy on Pembroke Road.
The march was part of a national demonstration being organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and mirrored similar demonstrations in other cities like London where 20,000 people turned out.
The march was also supported by a number of other organisations including Gaza Action Ireland, the Irish Irish Anti-War Movement, Peace and Neutrality Alliance and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Gardaí say that today’s demonstration has been peaceful and estimated numbers at between 6,000-7,000.
The march follows other protests that have been held each week since the the beginning of the current upsurge in violence and other “die-in” protests that have been organised regularly.
One of the speakers in today’s demonstration was former Irish rugby international Trevor Hogan who was arrested by the Israeli navy in 2011 as part of an international flotilla attempting to bring aid to Gaza.
Hogan spoke on behalf of Gaza Action Ireland and repeated calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Boaz Modai:
He has to go, and until the siege of Gaza is lifted we must place a siege of protest around his embassy. We can’t allow Israel to launch another indiscriminate slaughter on the people of Gaza. We cannot wait until Israel again decides to obliterate entire neighbourhoods and families.
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