NI marchers demand end to Gaza violence

Thousands attended a march in the North today for an end to violence in the Middle East.

A crowd estimated by organisers to be around 5,000-strong marched through the centre of Belfast.

At City Hall speakers from the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU), who planned the event, plus representatives of the four main Christian churches, addressed the peace rally.

They condemned violence by Hamas and Israel but speakers also called for an end to the violence which has claimed hundreds of lives in Gaza.

Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Hartley of Sinn Féin said: “The full-scale military assault on Gaza has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people including the slaughter of women and children.

“Our demands today are simple: The war in Gaza must end now.”

ICTU spokesman John Corey led calls for an end to violence in Gaza and said trade unionists he represented had handed £10,000 (€11,300) in humanitarian aid to the region.

The marchers, who packed the city’s Royal Avenue at 1pm, carried banners from trade unions, Amnesty International, Palestinian groups, Sinn Féin, the Nationalist SDLP and other republican groupings.

Those who addressed the peace rally included the Muslim Family Association in Belfast and the Peace People – the campaign group born out of the North's Troubles.

Catholic Bishop Donal McKeown told the crowd, which included families with children, that young people in Gaza were the victims of a wider conflict.

“We know what it is like to live in a war situation,” he said.

The Bishop added: “We know from our bitter experience here, that good can never be created from evil.”

He said: “Peace is possible in the Middle East if the powerful want there to be peace.”

The crowd heard condemnations of violence on both sides as well as appeals for peace.

Church of Ireland representative Archdeacon Billy Dodds and Methodist Church representative Rev. Derek Johnson called for an end to hostilities on both sides.

Rev. Dr Mark Gray of the Presbyterian Church expressed concerns at the levels of violence and added: “We must work for the dignity of all people.”

Unionist politicians had expressed concerns over the staging of today’s rally but Peter Bunting, assistant general secretary of the ICTU, said Northern Ireland divisions should not be reflected in debates on the Middle East.

“There are some politicians who attempt to portray the Israel and Palestine issue as a mirror of the sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“It is our humanity which is affronted by the images from in and around Gaza, not our narrow identities in divided Belfast.”