Pro-Israel demo in Dublin meets opposition

» Mark Moloney

A pro-Gaza demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag who walked towards the Israeli rally was wrestled to the ground by eight officers

GARDAÍ arrested two Palestine supporters on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on Sunday during a pro-Israel rally supported by the Israeli Embassy.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the latest offensive has risen to 160, including 105 civilians, 34 of whom are children.

Fewer than 40 pro-Israeli demonstrators gathered in Dublin on Sunday to show their support for the Zionist state’s attacks. They carried banners reading “I Love Israel” and waved Israeli flags.

Dozens of Garda officers – including three vans full of riot police – confronted a small, ad-hoc counter-protest by Palestinian solidarity activists.

The counter-protesters denounced Israeli war crimes in the recent attacks on Gaza and called for an end to the siege and economic blockade of the coastal territory.

A pro-Gaza demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag who walked towards the Israeli rally was wrestled to the ground by eight officers and (pictured right) arrested. Another man who remonstrated with gardaí over the arrest was himself taken into custody.

Gardaí also removed a baby from a pram in order to carry out a search of a suspected pro-Palestinian demonstrator and her son, resulting in heated exchanges between the crowd and the officers.