Massive Derry Rally for Palestine

More than 2,000 people came together in Derry’s Guildhall Square on Saturday afternoon (October 21) for the Rally for Palestine organised by the Derry Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Dozens more took up vantage points on Derry’s Walls, where a banner calling for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to Ireland, was unfurled.

Addressing the assembled crowd, Catherine Hutton, chairperson of the ‘Derry Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign’ said Derry’s was one of the many Rallies for Palestine taking place all over the world.

Guildhall @ipsc_derry rally.

WATCH: Catherine Hutton, Derry Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

She told @DerryNow: "We are here today, to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine, especially the people in Gaza, where there is genocide being carried out by Israel." pic.twitter.com/k5sbRAWDmj

— Derry Now (@DerryNow) October 21, 2023

“People are marching. People are standing in solidarity and showing their support for the Palestinian people and against the genocide that is happening now in Gaza since October 7,” she said.

“Almost 5,000 people are dead and more under the rubble. Tens of thousands are injured. They are being starved of water, food, electricity, and medical supplies. This is a crime against humanity.

“There are more than 1,500 children killed as far as we know. A child has been killed every 15 minutes since October 7 in Gaza. Let that sink in.

“The Palestinian people need us now. We need to end the occupation. We need to end apartheid. We need freedom, justice, equality and right of return,” she said.

Becca Bor representing ‘Jews for Palestine Ireland’ told the crowd her organisation across the whole world was saying, ‘Not in our name’.

She added: “For too long the grief and despair of the Jewish people from the Holocaust has been used for the occupation, the murder and the displacement of the Palestinian people, and we say, ‘not in our name’.

IN PICTURES: Hundreds attend Guildhall Square in support of Derry Rally for Palestine

Photos: Deirdre Heaney (nwpresspics)

“The Holocaust was a crime against humanity but so was the Nakba, so is the continued occupation of Palestine, so is the displacement of the palestinian people.

“Right now there are thousands if not tens of thousands of Jews around this world who are fighting back and are standing up against this occupation. The largest ever Jewish led protest was held in Washington DC this week and it is helping give confidence that being against Israeli brutality is not being anti-Semitic because we say, ‘not in our name’.

“One of the things that is really clear is there was just recently a poll in the US that stated 80% of Democrats and 66% of the population at large is for a ceasefire today,” said Ms Bor.

Guildhall @ipsc_derry rally.

WATCH: Daisy Mules, Irish National Teachers' Organisation (@INTOnews).

She told @DerryNow: "I am here in Derry, standing in solidarity with the Palestinians who, in my opinion, are facing a genocide." pic.twitter.com/HyKWvcBbKF

— Derry Now (@DerryNow) October 21, 2023

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Patricia Logue described what was currently happening in Gaza as “a stain on humanity”.

She added: “Israel has flouted international law for decades with absolutely no impunity.

“It has laid siege to the people of Gaza, almost half of them children, blockading them into the world’s largest open air prison. It has imposed the most brutal form of apartheid on the Palestinian people.

“It has annexed territory, imposed illegal settlements and occupation. It has dehumanised, degraded and denied Palestinian people the most basic of human rights.

“It has routinely, regularly and mercilessly murdered innocent civilians. It has imprisoned Palestinians in their 1,000s and even continues to hold the dead Palestinian prisoners as hostage, denying their families the right even to grieve. Even by Israel’s standards, these actions have been abhorrent,” said Mayor Logue.

Guildhall @ipsc_derry rally.

WATCH: Dermott Gallagher, Irish National Teachers' Organisation (@INTOnews) & Derry Trade Union Council (@derry_tuc).

He told @DerryNow: "We are supporting Palestinian children & teachers. Real concern where some of those children & teachers are." pic.twitter.com/0QFRIvY4x0

— Derry Now (@DerryNow) October 21, 2023

Niall McCarroll, Chairperson of Derry Trade Union Council (DTUC), said like everyone at the rally, his organisation was “outraged” at the continued human rights abuses being suffered by the Palestinian people.

He added: “The continued human rights abuses [include the] occupation and destruction of Palestinian lands and Palestinian homes.

“[Also] the horrific assault on the population of Gaza; war crimes; the policy of ethnic cleansing designed to make life unbearable for all Palestinians; the forced division of families; and restrictions on free movement to deny them access to work, to education and to health care; depriving Palestinians of the most productive land and water supplies; and effectively annexing East Jerusalem into Israeli territory.

“It is estimated the cost of the illegal occupation of Occupied Palestine  - Palestinian territory - the restriction on movement on trade, amounts to a loss of 35% of Palestinian GDP or £2.8 billion.

“25% of Palestinians are unemployed, with 30% of families in the West Bank living in poverty. This figure rises to 64% in Gaza. The unemployment figure is at 55% in the Gaza Strip. Lack of jobs and income is forcing workers to the Israeli job market , to work in minimum wage jobs, with little or no rights. The average minimum wage is nowhere near enough to sustain a decent living,” said Niall O’Carroll.

Mr O’Carroll added DTUC was frustrated the British and Irish Governments and the EU had failed in their obligations under international law.

“There was no such dithering when it came to the illegal invasion of Iraq,” he said, “under the guise of so-called international law.”

The next speaker, Sameh Hassan said he totally condemned the targeting of civilians by both sides as being “totally against the Islamic Injunction”.

“We should not lose sight of the cause of the problem. Over the last 75 years, Israel worked to change the map of the Palestinian land to a very distorted shape, to make sure there is no hope for a Palestinian state.

“During the First Nakba in 1948, saw ethnic cleansing, massacres and mass killing. Israel drove 750,000 Palestinians out of their villages. 10,000 of them were displaced to the Gaza Strip.

“Today, 80% of the Palestinians in Gaza are refugees or descendents of the Nakba.

“Now the fascist government in Israel announced plans of wiping Gaza off the map by displacing its people to Egypt. Israel is trying to change the narrative  from what appears to be a war between the two sides to a humanitarian crisis on the border, to put pressure on Egypt to take Palestinians as refugees in Sinai and unfortunately many Western countries are pushing for this,” said Mr Hassan.

“The murder of children is wrong. I don’t know how that is so difficult for some of our world leaders to actually utter,” said SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood.

Guildhall @ipsc_derry rally.

WATCH: @SDLPlive leader @columeastwood MP.

He told @DerryNow: "We are absolutely opposed and totally against what Hamas has done but it is not OK to use that to commit further war crimes on the people of Gaza. Israel needs to stop bombing it now." pic.twitter.com/XhZkx7FnoK

— Derry Now (@DerryNow) October 21, 2023

“It doesn’t matter if they are Israeli children or Palestinian children, murdering them is absolutely wrong.

“That is the moral test which has been failed by world leaders right across this planet.

“The collective punishment of the people of Palestine is a war crime. It should not be hard to say. Denying a whole population care, food, water, is a war crime.

“Collectively punishing children for the results of what Hamas did is a war crime and it should be called out time and time again.

“The people of this city know what is required in Gaza today. Stop dropping bombs on children’s heads, that is the only way this will stop,” said Mr Eastwood.

Derry City and Strabane District councillor, Shaun Harkin (People Before Profit) told the rally he was very proud the people of Derry and Ireland were standing up for Palestine.

He added: “We need to see an end to the apartheid state, which is the first step towards ensuring freedom, democracy and peace in Palestine and right across the Middle East.

“The first thing we have to do is demand the Israeli ambassadors to Ireland and Britain are expelled. It would send a message to Israel. It would send a message to Rishi Sunak. It would send a message to Joe Biden. That we are not standing with what they are doing to the Palestinians.

Guildhall @ipsc_derry rally.

WATCH: Eamon McCann (@eamonderry).

He told @DerryNow: "I think it is the duty of every decent citizen to be out shouting about what's happening in the Middle East & what is happening to the Palestinians."

(Apologies for background noise.) pic.twitter.com/LHAN2JPR0B

— Derry Now (@DerryNow) October 21, 2023

“There is also the issue of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a global movement founded in 2005 by the Palestinians, to call for Israel to become a pariah state, like South Africa was, which is being criminalised by governments across the globe.

“If the ground invasion of Gaza takes place, we cannot be silent. I believe we need a walk out of our schools. We need a walk out of our work. We need mass action in solidarity with Palestine. We are trying to stop a slaughter because that is what they will do,” said Shaun Harkin.

The rally ended with Guildhall Square resounding to chants of: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”