'Limerick stands against hate': Pro-Palestinian march takes place in city

“LIMERICK stands with all people under attack from racist states and people.”

That is according to the Limerick branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), which hosted a demonstration in the city at lunchtime on Saturday, June 14. 

Crowds gathered to support a protest which took to a city centre route from Bedford Row at 1pm, and went up O’Connell St and down Henry St, where crowds waved Palestinian flags and banners stating phrases such as: “Limerick stands with Palestine”, “Limerick, end genocide in Gaza now”, and “Boycott Israeli goods, end the occupation of Palestine”. 

Limerick’s IPSC took to Facebook following the protest, writing: “Our beautiful Limerick community of solidarity out strong for Palestine again today. 

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“As the far right tried to spread their hate in our city, we said Limerick welcomes refugees and migrants, Limerick stands against hate, racism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry. Limerick stands with all people under attack from racist states and people.

“We have a generational responsibility and a moral obligation to stand with the oppressed, the colonised, the brutalised, and we will keep doing that.”

Another protest is organised for this Saturday, June 21 at 1pm, again in Bedford Row in what is being billed as ‘rally for Gaza’. 

“Let's keep showing up in solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers and demanding action from our government to sanction apartheid Israel for its genocidal crimes against them,” Limerick IPSC says.

Last week in Cork, thousands of people gathered in what was a Munster–wide rally on the Grand Parade on June 7. 

A similar protest took place on April 5 in Bedford Row, while last year, the pro-Palestine group took to Limerick city streets every Saturday for months without fail, often with as many as 100 attendees. 

An independent, non-party political organisation run by volunteers, the IPSC was set up in late 2001 by a group of established Irish human rights and community activists, academics and journalists who were deeply concerned with the current situation in the Occupied Territories.