Write a commentThe Great March for Gaza arrives in Newry. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie
The Great March for Gaza took place on Saturday past for the second year running with a very large crowd taking part in the walk from Lurgan to Omeath, in solidarity with the people of Palestine and all those victimised by Imperialism & Zionism. The walk left Lurgan at 8.30am and mostly took place on the Newry Canal towpath. People of all ages took part and despite atrocious weather spirits were high, with one group of Christian women singing along the way.
Walkers make their way along Newry Canal towpath towards Newry. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie
The walkers were delayed on the towpath just before Scarva due to a large number of people who gathered on the other side of Newry Canal to protest against the march and in support of Israel but despite the protest the participants passed through safely although much abuse was hurled.
Marchers raised funds for Palestinian charities and highlighted how Ireland is complicit in facilitating Israel’s crimes against humanity. The march organisers demands were for:
Warplanes to stop transit through Irish airports and skies
InvestNI to defund F35 factories
End to Palantir in the NHS
End livestock exports to Israel
End Allianz as GAA national sponsor
Sanction Israel, BDS now.
Rev Dr Bill Shaw speaking at the protest. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie
When the march participants reached Newry Town Hall around 8.45pm, Rev Dr Bill Shaw spoke about the scale of weapons being sent to Israel. Dr Shaw said: "Weapons of war are still flooding in to Israel. The Zionist entity seems to enjoy the riches that the West pours in. We continue to supply them with weapons, and they continue to genocide the murder of innocents. From October 2023 to October 2025, 2600 shipments of armaments from 51 different countries arrived on the shores of occupied Palestine. And those bombs and bullets came from the UK, they came from France, they came from Canada, they came from Germany, they came from Italy, they came from Spain, among others, and these are the very countries that make pious platitudes about the violence, and they say they want to see a ceasefire, and they say we're praying for peace - why won't the world just listen!"
Dr Shaw spoke about a group of people from the 17th century called The Levellers who advocated for human rights and religious tolerance. He said "the spirit of the levellers continues. It exists today. It exists in you and me. We are the levellers of the 21st century. We are the levellers addressing this upside down world. We are the people who continue to challenge the norm. We are the people who refuse to be silent or to be intimidated. We are the people who can tell right from wrong. Not only can we tell it we can call it out."
He concluded "Tonight, we call on our politicians on this island, and also in Great Britain. We call them out and tell them that we will hold them to account. There will be a day of reckoning, and we will call them and hold them to account. They will be held to account for what they did to enable the genocide in Gaza"
Participants in the Great March for Gaza. Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie
Speaking after the event IPSC Newry Joint-Chair Marc Mac Seáin said: “As with last year the march was a great success. Despite sickening attempts to sectarianise the matter by Unionist politicians and give cover to hate, we held firm and completed our march. These politicians stood front and centre with a mob screaming racist abuse in Scarva. Protesters at Scarva flew UDA flags in taunt at the march, threw stones at Journalists and threatened to shoot them on scene. Slurry had been spread on the march route.
“The DUP, TUV are anxious ahead of elections next year and are very cynically trying to play to a crowd. Particularly in the case of the DUP, they must attempt distraction from their own deep failures & the deprivation across the North of Ireland they stand over."
Running for Gaza! Photograph: Columba O'Hare/ Newry.ie
Mac Seáin believes that in the north of Ireland we are very complicit in Israel’s crimes which hurt not just the people of Palestine, Lebanon or Iran but they hurt us too. "Israel has caused a massive oil, fuel crisis with their insane warmongering which hurts every worker on the globe."
He added: “Stormont through InvestNI gives money, support to corporations featuring in Israel’s military supply chain most notably a raft of firms which produce parts for F35 jet plans. The British Treasury gave £1.6B in 2025 to Thales the arms manufacturer specifically spent here to produce missiles which are currently be in used to shoot down Iranian drones. Thales produced parts for drones alongside Elbit for Israel, most notably their Watcherkeeper series.
Mac Seáin concluded “In the words of famed German Socialist Karl Liebnekct ‘the main enemy is at home’. We are made complicit in disgusting Imperialism, Genocide which benefits us in no-way. Ending on our complicity will not just aid the people of Palestine but ourselves. Our public services crumble as lavish sums are spent on war. We need welfare, not warfare. Homes, not bombs!”
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