Mullingar Rally was 'pro-Palestine but not pro-Hamas'

Mullingar was the scene of a pro-Palestine rally on Sunday, where a mix of Irish and Middle Eastern people assembled to express their concern over Israel's retaliatory actions in Gaza.

The rally was organized by Christine O'Mahony of the group Mullingar 4 All, with help from the Meath branch of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).

"There was a number of people from Palestine. I was talking to a few of them. I think they came from Galway. They saw it being advertised and they came from Clifden and Galway to Mullingar. There were also a lot of Syrians there...there was a lot of Egyptians there as well," said Christine, going on to add that out of it, there are moves towards establishing a Westmeath branch of the IPSC.

"A lot of people were coming up to me when they saw the Meath IPSC sign and were like: 'we definitely need something like this'," Christine said.

She said that the attendance was an indicator that "a lot of people are on the right side".

Christine stressed that the rally was not a pro-Hamas event.

"A lot of people when they see 'Palestine', they automatically think Palestine equals Hamas. But I said it specifically in my speech that we feel sorry for both sides over the atrocities. We don't support Hamas: we're supporting the ordinary Palestinian people who haven't the weapons have no anything. We're always on the side of the innocent Palestinians. And we feel sorry for what's happening to innocent Israelis as well.

"No-one brought that up at the protest, but we had a few people online who were saying 'why are you organizing a protest for Hamas?' But this wasn't a protest for Hamas at all. It was just for Palestine."

While the rally participants encountered no opposition during the 90-minutes-long gathering, there were some remarks made to some people after they went for refreshments afterwards.

A number of people spoke during the rally, including a member of the IPSC who explained the BDS campaign, which stands for “boycott divestment and sanctions”.

One of those who spoke was a Muslim woman who spoke of the impact on the civilian population of Palestine of the sanctions announced by Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel on Saturday October 7.

“She made comparisons between Mullingar and Gaza, and asked how people would feel if water and food was taken away from Mullingar, as is happening in Palestine; how would you live without water and food? Because that’s basically what Israel is doing right now, and taking away internet access and shelter from people in Palestine.