THOUSANDS of Gaels made their voices heard in Belfast city centre at the weekend during a march organised by Gaels Against Genocide in Gaza.
Gaels Against Genocide in Gaza began as a meeting between a number of clubs in Belfast. Organiser Michael Doherty said: "We kept seeing each other at all of the same marches so we sat down together and organised a way that we as Gaels could come together to organise our own march to show solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine."
PROTEST: Young gaels held clotheslines of GAA tops with the names of murdered Palestinian children on them
The marchers walked from Writers' Square to City Hall to make their voices heard and an impressive display was carried by local children which featured GAA tops featuring the names of Palestinian children who have been murdered.
Speaking at the event were Glen Phillips (Gaels Against Genocide in Gaza); Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin (An Dream Dearg); Pádraig de Brún (Coláiste Feirste student); Dave Hickey (Irish Sport for Palestine); Jane Adams (Antrim camogie All Star); and Saeb Shaath (a Palestinian living in Belfast).
PALESTINE: Gaels from across Ireland turned up in Belfast to protest
Glen Phillips from Gaels Against Genocide in Gaza said: “It was a brilliant event and we had thousands of people out and everyone has come back to us to say they want to carry on expressing their support for the people of Gaza and Palestine.
“We may hold another march in the future but for now our intentions are just to support the other events for Palestine which are taking place and I know a lot of individual GAA clubs have also begun their own fundraisers for Gaza themselves and we want to give our full support to those."
Glen added the march really took off when other clubs from throughout Ulster and beyond turned up as well.
“We initially thought it would just be clubs from Antrim and the south Antrim/Belfast area attending, but we got a fantastic response from clubs all over Antrim and also Ulster. Clubs came from Derry, Tyrone and Down. It was a fantastic turnout and clubs and gaels also came up from Dublin.
“Mothers Against Genocide got loads of donations of small sized and baby sized GAA tops from many different clubs and they set them up on clotheslines but they added the names of Palestinian children who had been killed in Gaza on to them.
"They stayed up late every night before the march organising it and on the day it was really striking visually to see people marching through Belfast with the names written on the tops."
GAZA: Children from Ulster GAA clubs protest at City Hall against the genocide in Gaza
Glen continued: “Over here our young people are lucky in that they can play sports but children in Gaza are having to shelter anywhere they can from bombs and scavenge on the streets for scraps of food.
“It was good we could tap into something like a community-based organisation like the GAA and it once again showed that the people of Ireland and the people of Belfast stand firmly behind the people of Palestine and Gaza.”
GAZA: Glen Phillips of Gaels Against Genocide in Gaza speaking at the protest
Michael Doherty said he was thrilled to see so many people on the streets of Belfast.
“We never thought we would get 10,000 people out on the streets. We originally thought it would be around a thousand but after the other clubs from outside Antrim showed up as well the numbers really grew. We saw people from the Glens and Slaughtneil and a big bus from Portadown, Banbridge and elsewhere. Seeing clubs from other places in Ulster, it couldn’t have gone better for us.
“We organised it so each speaker spoke for around five minutes as we wanted to keep our messages short and succint in calling for an end to the genocide and for a full and permanent ceasefire. It was brilliant to see so many young people, families and the displays by Mothers Against Genocide who made the jerseys with the names of Palestinian children who have been murdered on them."
GAZA: Gaels at the protest
Michael continued: “We received some great feedback from people across the sporting community and across both the communities here. I was contacted by people involved in rugby, soccer etc and we would really like to see those sports get involved as well. A number who said they were unionists also got in touch to say they were really impressed by the march and the event.
“Other sports stars were also at the event, such as Michael Conlan, and it was great to see so many come out and march for the people of Palestine. It was brilliant to see so many people, both Gaels and others, come out to make their voices heard for the people of Gaza and Palestine.”
