Mullingar Vigil for the People of Palestine

westmeath | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Sunday January 03, 2010 20:46 by June K - Peoples Movement Midlands Branch

In Mullingar on New Year’s Eve members of the Midlands Branch of the People’s Movement, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Irish Anti War Movement and independent campaigners held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with the 1300 peace activists detained in Egypt and prevented from delivering life sustaining food and medicine to the besieged people of the Gaza Strip.

The response from passers by in Mullingar and from motorists honking their horns in endorsement of the vigil, which was only one of many such vigils held across the country this New Year holiday, was most gratifying.

More than two years have passed since the land and sea blockade on Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants and one year since the deadly Israeli attacks in which 1,415 Palestinians were killed with over 5,000 men women and children seriously injured and over 325,000 people losing their homes and life time possessions.

The siege of Gaza by Israel can only be described as Genocide. How else could it be described?

Hospitals and doctors in Gaza lack essential medicines and children and the elderly are dying of basic illnesses and the population as a whole suffers from malnutrition.

Details about the current crisis and be found on the following websites: Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign http://www.ipsc.ie, Irish Anti War Movement http://www.irishantiwar.org, People’s Movement http://www.people.ie

(Posted by Kev [IPSC, pers cap], on behalf of June K - I would like to thank all those who organised and took part in the vigil)