{"id":594353,"date":"2026-08-15T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/594353\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T19:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T19:50:15","slug":"blanket-with-square-for-each-child-killed-in-gaza-brings-silence-to-bustling-dublin-street-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/594353\/","title":{"rendered":"Blanket with square for each child killed in Gaza brings silence to bustling Dublin street \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A protest for Palestine<\/a> brought momentary silence to Dublin\u2019s<\/a> bustling Grafton Street on Saturday afternoon as a handcrafted blanket almost 60 metres long remembering the conflict\u2019s dead children was carried through the crowds. <\/p>\n

The slow walk without words was undertaken by about 150 members and supporters of Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine and the Craftivism for Palestine group. <\/p>\n

The latter\u2019s \u201cGranny Square for Gaza\u201d blanket has attracted worldwide attention, each of its 3,000 crocheted or knitted squares in Palestinian colours and symbols representing 10 children killed in Israeli<\/a> attacks since October 7th, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in May last year with 1,300 squares but the number kept growing,\u201d said Niamh Bonner, coordinator of the project. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to stop at 3,000 because it\u2019s got so big, it\u2019s hard to move around [it now weighs 40kg] so it represents 30,000 dead children. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut my fear is that eventually each square will represent, not 10 children, but 100 or more.\u201d <\/p>\n

The blanket has featured at 70 events in all 32 counties since July last year and Bonner credits it with raising awareness in a way traditional protests may not. <\/p>\n

\"AA view of the protest on Grafton Street, Dublin. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times \"TheThe blanket displayed on Wicklow Street, Dublin. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times \"TheThe ‘Granny Square for Gaza’ blanket has attracted worldwide attention. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a visual representation that helps to explain how big the number of child deaths is,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA number is just a figure but you watch how long it takes the blanket to go by and there\u2019s a much greater impact. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt also attracts people who wouldn\u2019t normally take part in a protest too because it can be intimidating joining a group waving banners and chanting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Not optimistic any more\u2019: Exodus from Israel fuelled by war and political polarisationOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople feel they can make a statement just by helping to carry it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Walkers carried multiple messages about what they said was Ireland\u2019s complicity in the war on Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They asked the public to tell their pharmacists they would not accept Teva medical products where a safe alternative to the Israeli pharma company exists. <\/p>\n

They urged support for Gazan students refused visas to take up university places in Ireland. <\/p>\n

They called for the Government to block the sale of Israel war bonds in the EU. Ireland is due to resume facilitating the sale on the EU\u2019s behalf next month, a move T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has asked the European Commission to stall. <\/p>\n

\"EachEach of the crocheted or knitted squares represent 10 children killed in Israeli attacks since October 7th, 2023. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times \"DrDr Kieran Harkin, a GP from Dublin, performing during the protest. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times <\/p>\n

They also carried photographs of some of the hundreds of Palestinian doctors and medics killed, jailed and disappeared since the Israeli assault began. <\/p>\n

Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine spokeswoman Dr Angy Skuse criticised the Department of Health for continuing to buy Israel medicines. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey say procurement rules and the EU-Israel trade deal mean they can\u2019t discriminate against Israel but they could add conditions that would exclude Israel as a supplier. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it was against the rules, you can still break the rules for the right reasons.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A protest for Palestine brought momentary silence to Dublin\u2019s bustling Grafton Street on Saturday afternoon as a handcrafted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,3409,61,60,3410,43,4268],"class_list":["post-594353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dublin","tag-gaza-strip","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}