LONDON: Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators held a rally in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Saturday to protest against businesses that have ties to Israel, The Independent reported.
Protesters marched through the city center, stopping and chanting outside Starbucks, Barclays, insurance company Axa and Leonardo Hotels. The companies are accused of complicity in a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza as a result of having extensive business ties with Israel.
At the end of the march, outside the BBC Northern Ireland offices, the demonstrators called on the public to boycott Israeli products, including those from pharmaceutical giant Teva, from Sept. 18.
Meanwhile, protests were also held across Ireland, including in the capital, Dublin, and Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Carlow and Navan.
In Dublin rallygoers marched from the US Embassy to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The protests were organized by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has led efforts to boycott Israeli products in the country.
Rossa Coyle of the IPSC, speaking in Belfast, urged the public to boycott Caterpillar, the equipment manufacturer that has provided the Israeli military with excavators used in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and Teva.
“Ask your GPs, ask your pharmacist to mark your records ‘no Teva products,’” she said.
Organizers hope to popularize a three-day boycott of Israeli goods from Sept. 18.
Patricia McKeown of Trade Union Friends of Palestine said that pro-Palestine groups across Ireland were redoubling their efforts.
“Trade Union Friends of Palestine across Ireland and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions have been in emergency meetings with BDS (advocacy group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), with its European coordinators, to look at what call for action we are making to intensify what is already being done on the ground,” she said.
“There are workers across the island refusing to handle Israeli products, goods and services.
“Starting on Sept. 18, from that day onward, we want workers to refuse to handle any Israeli goods or services they are engaged with in whatever type of place they work in.
“That might be the public service and the civil service, that might be the health service, that might be education, that is definitely industry, that is definitely retail.
“We are pledging to stand by those workers as they take action by their refusal.”
Dr. Ashraf Habouharb, a Palestinian living in Belfast, addressed the rally in the city and praised the protesters.
“I’m extremely delighted to see you in this big number and large crowd coming today, raising your voice and declaring that enough is enough,” he said.
“This has been the largest crowd for many, many, many weeks and you are responding to what’s happening.
“What else needs to happen for the international community and world leaders, especially the Western leaders, to make an action to do something trying to stop this genocide?”
