Dua’a Ahmed arrived in Ireland from Gaza two months ago to begin a scholarship programme in Limerick, leaving behind her two young sons.
“It’s really difficult to [communicate with them]. Whenever I call them and they don’t answer, I lose myself,” she told a pro-Palestine march, attended by thousands, in Dublin on Saturday.
Though Ms Ahmed is glad to be in Ireland, she misses her family, including 11-year-old Hussan and eight-year-old Ramadan.
Speaking outside the Dáil, she said she wanted them to be safe. Despite the ongoing bombardment of her homeland, she maintains a faith in humanity.
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“I feel optimistic because all we have is to hope,” she said. “The world is not silent. There are demonstrations like this one in Dublin and everywhere else ... I hope a ceasefire will take place now in Gaza. For all the blood and the children who died and were killed in horrific ways.”
Ahmed was among those addressing the thousands who attended Saturday’s march which, its organisers estimated, was more than 25,000 people.
Walking from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Leinster House, it was the seventeenth national mobilisation of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) since October 2023.
It called on the Irish Government to sanction Israel, and participants, including left-wing political groups and trade unions, held banners and waved Palestinian flags.
The protest came after 16 Irish citizens were among hundreds detained by Israel after it intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, carrying aid to Gaza.
Many attending the march were keen to highlight flaws in the Gaza ceasefire deal put forward by US president Donald Trump.
“Anything that stops the murder and killing of Palestinians in Gaza is welcome. And anything that can be done to get the humanitarian aid in is really essential as well,” said John Lannon, a member of the Limerick branch of the IPSC who has been organising marches every Saturday for the last two years to draw attention to the situation in Gaza.
“But there’s never going to be a lasting or proper peace there until Palestinians are part of the process and are consulted about their future.”
Lamia Tadjine and Eli Kane are members of United Against Racism, a grassroots organisation in Ireland built in response to concerns over the far right.
Ms Tadjine also highlighted the lack of Palestinian input in the proposed ceasefire.
“I’m not optimistic,” she said. “My worry is that, if this ceasefire plan goes through and Israel stops bombing, [then] what’s happening in the West Bank with people being sporadically murdered and pushed out of their homes will happen in Gaza. It’ll just be a slow burn of what’s happening now.”
Mr Kane was equally pessimistic but saw cause for optimism in “the huge amount of sustained public pressure and mass mobilisation” around the world, including support for the freedom flotilla movement and the recent Italian workers’ strikes.
“I’ve been involved in Palestine solidarity activism for coming on a decade ... and never have I seen such a huge and sustained movement for Palestine,” he said.
Speaking at Leinster House, People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy drew further attention to the activists on-board the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted in recent days by Israeli forces before it could reach Gaza. Mr Murphy was speaking alongside Jenna Almai, whose mother Maureen Almai was one of the Irish citizens on the flotilla.
“People who are bringing baby formula, bringing food, bringing medicine to the people of Gaza who are being deliberately starved – and they are illegally kidnapped in international waters in an act of piracy,” Mr Murphy said.
“They are cable-tied with their arms, their sleep is interrupted, they’re abused by the fascist minister Ben Gvir, and they’re imprisoned.”
Footage on social media appeared to show the Israeli security minister shouting at flotilla campaigners detained by the Israeli military.
Meanwhile, two people were arrested for public order offences after a separate protest attempted to breach a garda cordon near the Dublin Port Tunnel.
Videos posted online show incapacitant spray being used on protesters by the garda Public Order Unit in the East Wall area.
A garda cordon had been established to prevent the crowd from blocking the Port Tunnel.
“An Garda Síochána attempted to engage with the protest group over the course of the afternoon to disperse the protest in a voluntary manner,” gardaí said in a statement, adding that despite this engagement, there was a “co-ordinated effort to physically breach” the cordon.
“Members of the Garda National Public Order Unit, dressed in ’soft cap’ uniform, supported by frontline uniformed gardaí, intervened to prevent a breach of the Garda cordon which included the use of incapacitant spray on protesters.”
In London almost 500 people were arrested over pro-Palestine protests, which are taking place in defiance of calls by politicians and police bosses to reconsider after the Manchester synagogue terror attack. The Metropolitan Police arrested protesters for offences including supporting the banned group Palestine Action.
In central Rome on Saturday large crowds assembled for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza. – Additional reporting PA, Reuters
