A protest for Palestine brought momentary silence to Dublinâs bustling Grafton Street on Saturday afternoon as a handcrafted blanket almost 60 metres long remembering the conflictâs dead children was carried through the crowds.
The slow walk without words was undertaken by about 150 members and supporters of Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine and the Craftivism for Palestine group.
The latterâs âGranny Square for Gazaâ blanket has attracted worldwide attention, each of its 3,000 crocheted or knitted squares in Palestinian colours and symbols representing 10 children killed in Israeli attacks since October 7th, 2023.
âWe started in May last year with 1,300 squares but the number kept growing,â said Niamh Bonner, coordinator of the project.
âWeâve had to stop at 3,000 because itâs got so big, itâs hard to move around [it now weighs 40kg] so it represents 30,000 dead children.
âBut my fear is that eventually each square will represent, not 10 children, but 100 or more.â
The blanket has featured at 70 events in all 32 counties since July last year and Bonner credits it with raising awareness in a way traditional protests may not.
âItâs a visual representation that helps to explain how big the number of child deaths is,â she said.
âA number is just a figure but you watch how long it takes the blanket to go by and thereâs a much greater impact.
âIt also attracts people who wouldnât normally take part in a protest too because it can be intimidating joining a group waving banners and chanting,â she said.
âPeople feel they can make a statement just by helping to carry it.â
Walkers carried multiple messages about what they said was Irelandâs complicity in the war on Gaza.
They asked the public to tell their pharmacists they would not accept Teva medical products where a safe alternative to the Israeli pharma company exists.
They urged support for Gazan students refused visas to take up university places in Ireland.
They called for the Government to block the sale of Israel war bonds in the EU. Ireland is due to resume facilitating the sale on the EUâs behalf next month, a move Tánaiste Simon Harris has asked the European Commission to stall.
They also carried photographs of some of the hundreds of Palestinian doctors and medics killed, jailed and disappeared since the Israeli assault began.
Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine spokeswoman Dr Angy Skuse criticised the Department of Health for continuing to buy Israel medicines.
âThey say procurement rules and the EU-Israel trade deal mean they canât discriminate against Israel but they could add conditions that would exclude Israel as a supplier.
âEven if it was against the rules, you can still break the rules for the right reasons.â
