The Event

Mothers Against G3nocide are organising a demo outside Government Buildings on Merrion Square this Wednesday 9th April at 7pm. DiEM25 in Ireland members will be supporting and participating in this. 

Mothers Against Genocide gathered outside the Dáil marking Mother’s Day by commemorating the more than 15,000 children killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged territory. The mothers held a peaceful overnight vigil in solidarity with Palestinian mothers and were planning to deliver a letter to the Government at 10am the following morning. Before they could do so, however, the vigil was broken up by An Gárda Síochána, who arrested a number of protesters, while trampling on the photos of Gaza’s dead children and destroying a symbolic clothes-line of blood-soaked baby-grows conveying a message that called on the government to sanction Israel.

It is deeply disturbing that some women were strip-searched while in the custody of the Irish State.

Such searches have a particularly negative impact on women with strict religious and cultural dress codes. The UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners stipulate that invasive searches must not be used to ‘harass, intimidate or unnecessarily intrude upon a prisoner’s privacy’ and may only be used if ‘absolutely necessary’. 

Was it ‘absolutely necessary’ that the Irish State strip-search mothers peacefully protesting against a genocide? These actions must be thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the right to freedom of assembly is protected under Irish, European and international law and restrictions to it must be proportionate and necessary.

Who does this government serve? Protest crackdowns and neutrality debates spark outrage