Protesters in Galway demand action after Gaza-bound flotilla is intercepted by Israeli forces
The Galway Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) group took to County Hall this morning as the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces overnight on its final stretch towards Gaza strip.
Around 30 demonstrators gathered in the beginning showers of Storm Amy outside Galway County Hall at 8.30am on Thursday October 2.
Damp Palestinian flags flew in the wind next to signs that read “save Gaza” before the group moved inside the council building, where they began chanting as they aimed to garner the attention of Chief Executive Liam Conneally for a meeting.
An active demonstrator told the Irish Independent: “When the place opened at 9am, we came indoors, and we gave great entertainment.”
“I'll have to admit, we were loud, but we were sweet. We weren’t expecting tea and coffee, but we were hoping that the manager would come down and sympathize with our cause.”
The tall, open ceilings of the county hall lobby eliminated the need for microphones. Chants and noisemakers reverberated through the space, loud enough to drown out even a moderate conversation with a neighbour.
“We came here because these are our elected representatives locally, that's number one, and they should be on board, and they should welcome us in here. We are a peaceful group,” said a demonstrator in her mid-sixties, before adding with a laugh, “We are grannies. As you can see, a lot of us.”
Demonstrators stressed the sense of urgency to rally the support of local government officials after the interception of 40 civilian boots hoping to get to the shores of the Gaza strip with humanitarian aid.
Fourteen Irish nationals are believed to be aboard boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla. Early this morning it was confirmed that the vessel carrying Galway-born poet Sarah Clancy had been intercepted, and that Ms Clancy was detained by Israeli forces.
A familiar face with IPSC, Philomena McKenna said: “There are many Irish people on these boats. I mean many people of all nationalities, so every country has a responsibility for their own nationals.”
“Our government must be making some loud noise to say that they need to get these hostages, get these people back.”
A Council staff member had communicated to the group at the start of the demonstration that Mr Conneally was in a meeting and would be available for communication via email.
However, the group did not move and at 11.15am, after three hours of protesting, the staff member returned with a confirmed meeting for Monday, October 6 with the chief executive.
Demonstrator Ríonach Ní Néill told the Irish Independent that the meeting, taking place at 11am, would be an “open meeting” where the group will communicate strong requests to “sanction Israel”.
“This is Galway County, it is a huge county. I'm sick of them hiding behind bureaucracy and saying that national procurement means that they can't enact BDS.”
She added they will call on elected officials to “rewrite national procurement to ensure that it is not making us complicit in genocide.”
“We're not asking for something idealistic here. We are asking our country to stop funding and arming genocide because Ireland is complicit.”