'Put an end to the senseless violence': 1,300 attend 21st Gaza rally in Cork city centre

ABOUT 1,300 people braved cold weather on Cork’s Grand Parade on Saturday afternoon for the 21st weekly Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign (CPSC) rally and march.

Organisers said numbers were down on the previous week, but that event had drawn support from all over Munster, and this weekend many had travelled to a rally in Dublin against racism, hatred and war.

The rally heard impassioned addresses from several speakers, and some had tears in their eyes as they struggled to articulate the depth of emotion felt at the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people.

One of those speaking on Saturday afternoon was Caitríona Twomey, volunteer co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners, one of the city’s oldest and most respected charities.

Ms Twomey said she was speaking as a mother and a grandmother, and her heart was aching at the nightly sight of civilian deaths in Palestine on the evening news.

“I implore our Government and our politicians and world leaders to please, in the name of humanity, to listen to my plea and the pleas of the nations who are begging for this genocide to stop, to put an end to the senseless violence that is claiming the lives of our children, our grandchildren, our grandparents, sisters and brothers, parents, neighbours and friends,” she said.

Ms Twomey condemned the weaponisation of hunger by the Israeli government, and called for the immediate delivery of food to people starving in Gaza.

She added that she was appalled by the deaths of more than a hundred Palestinians last Thursday when the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) opened fire on a food-delivery convoy.

In the five months since Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in a co-ordinated series of attacks in southern Israel on October 7, Gaza has come under almost constant bombardment from the IDF.

The number of people killed in Gaza passed 30,000 people in the past week, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, with around 80% of the Palestinian enclave’s 2.3m people crammed into increasingly small areas in an effort to find safety.

Most of Gaza’s people are hungry, and malnutrition now widespread on the Gaza Strip, the United Nations has warned that one quarter of Gaza’s population is “one step away from famine”.

Speaking to The Echo before the rally, Sinn Féin councillor for the North-West ward, Mick Nugent, said the IDF attack on people queuing for food appeared to have shocked even Israel’s closest allies.

“The US needs to press Israel into accepting a ceasefire, and the international community needs to come together and stand up for the people of Palestine, and that’s the message coming from Cork city today.” 

People Before Profit TD for Cork North Central, Mick Barry, said it was “a disgrace” that the Taoiseach was visiting President Biden, “a man who has done more than anyone else to arm and finance the Israeli assault”.

“And it’s also very wrong that Sinn Féin are travelling on Patrick’s Day to the White House, they should reverse that decision,” he said.

Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, said the “atrocities” of the past week had horrified all who witnessed them.

“This is genocide, that’s the only word for it, and we need the Irish Government to support South Africa and call for an immediate ceasefire, and for Israel to answer the accusation of genocide and crimes against humanity,” he said.

“To see children dying, and to see doctors performing surgery in corridors without any power or anaesthetic is just appalling, and you can see the depth of emotion here, you can see people openly crying at what is being done to innocent children.

“I just want to say, I’m really proud to be from Cork, and from Ireland, to see the way Cork people have rallied together to show support for the people of Gaza.” 

Peter Horgan, local election candidate for the Labour Party in the Cork South East ward, said 21 weeks of protests showed the depth of feeling in Cork for the people of Gaza.

“We need to see a ceasefire now, we need to see the US come to the table with real impact on pulling Israel back from the brink of further genocide against the people of Gaza.” 

One of the CPSC organisers, Emear Ní Mhaoldomhnaidh, told The Echo that last August she had worked for five weeks in a Palestinian refugee camp on the West Bank.

“Nothing, nothing prepared me for what I saw there. No matter how many of my friends had been there, no matter what I had read, no matter how many Palestinian people I spoke with, it was far, far worse than anything I could have imagined.

“Not for a second are you allowed forget that you are under occupation, the daily humiliation, discrimination and abuse the Palestinians suffer is beyond belief, and yet, in the face of all of this, what I encountered was the most compassionate, and beautiful people,” Ms Ní Mhaoldomhnaidh said.

Martin Shiel, co-chair of CPSC, said US president Joe Biden could no longer shield Israel from criticism by the UN Security Council.

“President Biden must change course. He must stop arming Israel and providing it with effective impunity at the UN. America could end this war tomorrow, and growing numbers of Americans are demanding this,” he said.