About 200 people, including Lebanese nationals, marched through Dublin city centre this afternoon to protest at Israel's attacks on Lebanon.
Chanting slogans such as "We want peace" and "Free, free Lebanon", the protesters assembled outside the Central Bank before marching up College Green and Nassau Street towards the Israeli embassy in Ballsbridge.
The march was organised by members of the Lebanese community living in Ireland, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and by a group called Friends of Lebanon.
Members of the Lebenese community and Friends of Lebenon taking part in a demonstration, outside the Israeli Embassy, in Ballsbridge, Dublin, yesterday. Photograph: Eric Luke
Outside the Israeli embassy, some of the protesters planned to lie on the ground wearing 'blood-stained' clothing to highlight what they said was the "indiscriminate killing by the Israeli army of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians - among them many children".
Abdullah Saoiegh, originally from Qana in south Lebanon, but living in Enniscorthy since 1984, said he had not been able to contact family members, including his grandfather, and was worried about them.
Mr Saoiegh, a biotechnologist, condemned the attacks by Israel on his homeland. ""I think the Irish Government has to call this by its right name. State terror is state terror and a criminal act is a criminal act," he told ireland.com.
He said there was no safe passage and no safe corridor for people living in Lebanon to escape the bombing by the Israeli army.
"I think now the Israelis are victims of Mr Bush's policy. Surely they are a victim, as we are, of the Bush policy."
The protesters distributed posters which purported to show dead victims of the attacks on Lebanon by Israel, alongside pictures they claim show Israeli children writing 'love' messages on bomb shells destined to be dropped on Beirut.
Asked if he believed Israeli people supported their government's stance, Mr Saoiegh said: ""We are always looking for the human being. People always have a heart. The question now is indoctrination as you see in the picture, about how much do they have to see before they feel...Always we are looking for the human being and that as a human being he would react in a humanitarian way."
A protest organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement, the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other groups is planned for Dublin city this Saturday.
Speakers at a press conference to announce the event today included Joshua Casteel, a former interrogator at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, now a member of a group called Iraq Veterans Against War.
A number of speakers called upon the Irish Government to take firmer action in response to Israel's attacks on Lebanon and on US policy in the Middle East.