Peace rally: More needs to be done for Palestine
“Palestinians don’t need your despair right now; they need your outrage and they need you to keep protesting.”
The words of Médecins Sans Frontières nurse and UCC graduate Aoife Ní Mhurchú as she addressed protesters at the 23rd Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign (CPSC) march at the weekend.
Though the march was held in the pouring rain last Saturday it was still attended by 750 people, many of whom will be back on the streets of Cork this coming Saturday for the 24th CPSC protest march.
In her address, Ms Ní Mhurchú condemned the Israeli destruction of critical medical services in Gaza and called on the Irish Government to do much more to bring the war to an immediate end.
Also speaking at the march was Cork North-Central People Before Profit–Solidarity TD Mick Barry who was critical of the St Patrick’s Day White House visit by the Taoiseach and other Irish politicians.
“This week saw two cultural triumphs for Ireland,” he said.
“On Monday, Cillian Murphy won an Oscar, and on Tuesday, every Irish artist withdrew from the SXSW Festival in Texas in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Yet the minister, Catherine Martin, still insists on attending the event. This Government is out of touch with everyone except Joe Biden,” added Deputy Barry.
Some of the march participants in Cork on Saturday carried bags of flour as a reminder of the ‘Flour Massacre’ of 29 February, when Israeli troops fired on crowds of starving Palestinians who had gathered to collect flour in the south-west of Gaza city, killing at least 112 people and injuring some 760.
Other march participants wore green t-shirts stained with fake blood and carried bloody shamrocks to protest against the Taoiseach's St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington.
The CPSC co-chair, Martin Shiel, said: “At a time when US-made bombs and bullets are being used by Israel to kill Palestinians in their tens of thousands, and with the US supplying billions of dollars' worth of financial aid to Israel, it's shameful that the Irish Government refused to heed the call of so many people in Ireland not to meet with President Biden in the White House as a way of communicating Irish opposition to America’s Israel policy. The Taoiseach’s stated sympathy with the people of Gaza is not well borne out by his actions.”