A lunchtime protest was held outside the gates of the Dáil on Thursday 25 January calling on Israeli authorities to free Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi and all other child prisoners.

The protest, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), included young people dressed as prisoners and featured a mock prison display. 

The organisers also submitted a letter to the Department of Foreign Affairs calling for action over the fate of Tamimi.

The 16-year-old Palestinian activist made headlines around the world in December over her detention for slapping an Israeli soldier in her home village of Nabi Saleh. 

Tamimi is awaiting military trial on charges of assault and incitement and throwing stones during a protest over the expansion of Israeli settlements near the Palestinian village.

The IPSC says Tamimi is just one of roughly 350 Palestinian children held in Israel’s prison system “where torture and ill-treatment during arrest and detention are routine.”

IPSC chair Fatin Al Tamimi said: “We are holding this symbolic protest outside the Irish parliament to highlight the issue of child prisoners and to appeal to the Irish Government to take concrete action to end Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian children like Ahed Tamimi. 

“Apartheid Israel must be held to account for its outrageous treatment of Palestinian children which violates the right of the child,” she added.

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