Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Britain has seen very sizeable protests of hundreds of thousands of people in solidarity with the Palestinians and in opposition to the genocidal assault by Israel on Gaza. That has happened in the context of massive repression and threatened repression. A letter from the Home Secretary to police constables suggests that flying a Palestinian flag in Britain may be a criminal offence and that the chant, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" may be a criminal offence. Now we see attempts to ban the coming protest this Saturday, which could see up to 1 million people on the streets. The deputy assistant commissioner of the police has said it is not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend. Suella Braverman has said that "hate marchers need to understand that decent British people have had enough of theses displays of thuggish intimidation and extremism". I suggest that decent British people are appalled at the Israeli genocide and are appalled at their own government's support for that. Has the Taoiseach discussed the right of people to protest with the British Prime Minister? I would certainly say to people that if it is banned, they should still be on the streets and should attempt to mobilise 1 million people in a very powerful display of international solidarity with the Palestinians.

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