In what is believed to be the first protest of its kind in Ireland, Muslims from all over the Republic will take part in a 'Not in Our Name' protest against Islamic State (IS) in Dublin on Sunday.
Taking place in O'Connell St at 1pm, it will include Muslims from Cork, Limerick, Drogheda, Dundalk, and Athlone, as well as Dublin and including the Council of Nigerian Mosques.
At the protest Muslims leaders will sign a peace declaration condemning IS and to demonstrate that hatred and violence can never be legitimized in the name of Islam.
The protest will also highlight that Islam is a religion of peace and show that all Muslims in Ireland condemn terrorism.
“Indiscriminate slaughter, public beheadings and systematic starvation are all features of the murderous campaign by the so-called Islamic State. All these are absolutely against the teachings of Islam. Most victims of this murderous campaign are Muslims,” the organisers have pointed out.
It would be “terribly wrong that in the face of the un-Islamic State atrocities if we as Muslims remain silent at how Islam is wrongfully defined as a barbaric religion by these terrorists,” they said.
Noting that Muslims in Ireland marched against caricatures of Muhammad in Dublin a few years ago, they said that IS was “damaging Islam and Muslims more than the caricatures and Islamophobia is increasing rapidly due to the atrocities of these terrorists”.
They’ve invited all Muslims in Ireland to take part in Sunday’s ‘Not in our Name’ protest to “demonstrate collectively that hatred and violence can never be legitimized in the name of Islam”.
