Large Cork city rallies pass noisily but peacefully

A major security operation saw the deployment of dozens of uniformed gardaí on the streets of Cork on Saturday afternoon as two large rallies, each comprising thousands of people, briefly faced off in the city centre, passing off noisily but peacefully.

The garda helicopter flew over the city, and three mounted gardaí on horseback supported the garda public order unit and dozens of uniformed officers, as a pro-Palestine march took place around the same time as anti-immigrant protesters gathered in the city centre.

Around lunchtime, approximately 2,500 people from Palestinian solidarity groups gathered at their weekly spot outside the Terence MacSwiney Library on the Grand Parade, while closer to the river anti-immigrant protesters gathered at the National Monument.

There has been a march for Palestine through the city every Saturday afternoon since the war in Gaza began after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas-led militants.

On Saturday afternoon, members of the public and Palestinian solidarity groups from across Munster gathered, many waving Palestinian flags and tricolours, to call on the Irish government to place sanctions on Israel, to stop the Central Bank from authorising the sale of Israeli bonds in Europe, and to pass the Occupied Territories Bill.

At around the same time, people attending a separate protest waved tricolours and American flags, with both groups separated by barricades and a line of gardaí blocking the Grand Parade.

It followed a similar rally in Dublin last month, which saw several thousand people march.

Some of the pro-Palestine groups traced their now familiar Saturday afternoon route down Patrick St, Winthrop St and back up Oliver Plunkett St, chanting slogans, while more stayed put outside the library. That rally eventually dispersed around 3.30pm.

At the march for Palestine, Naser Swirki, a theatre and film director who was born in Gaza and now lives in Skibbereen, painted a bleak picture of life in the land of his birth.

“In Gaza, death spares no one; doctors, children, the displaced, and even hope itself. In Gaza, instead of saying, ‘See you tomorrow,’ they say, ‘See you in heaven’,” he said.

“Parents memorise their children's clothes to identify their remains later. They struggle to get a piece of bread, offering it before bed, so their children don't die while they’re still hungry.”

Meanwhile, the anti-immigrant rally marched along the South Mall to City Hall, by which time their numbers swelled to almost 5,000, according to one garda estimate.

The former Ireland First leader Derek Blighe, was one of the main organisers of that event, and he quoted scripture to the crowd, denouncing what he called “false gods” while being cheered with chants of “get them out”.

Gardai said there was one arrest for a public order incident.