Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched through Belfast city centre on Saturday, targeting businesses they accuse of supporting Israel's military operation in Gaza. The demonstration disrupted traffic and shoppers as it wound through the city, with organisers leading chants outside Starbucks, Barclays, Axa and Leonardo Hotels.
Speakers at the rally, held outside BBC Northern Ireland offices, urged workers to refuse to handle Israeli goods from September 18 and to boycott products by Teva, an Israeli pharmaceutical multinational. Patricia McKeown of Trade Union Friends of Palestine called for intensified action, saying workers across the island are already refusing to handle Israeli products.
Rossa Coyle of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) also called for a boycott of Caterpillar, which supplies bulldozers used in the occupied Palestinian territories. Dr Ashraf Abouharb, a Palestinian living in Belfast, described the situation in Gaza as 'utter and discriminate destruction' and appealed to business leaders and workers to act on their conscience.
Similar protests took place in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Carlow and Navan, as well as in central London, where tensions flared as some elderly protesters were arrested for displaying placards supporting Palestine Action.
