UCDSU continued their protest against the conflict between Israel and Palestine this afternoon with a sit-in on the N11 bridge. The protest began at 1 pm when a group holding flags and pickets began circling the UCD lake. The group then made their way to the main entrance of the university and hung flags over the N11 flyover.
Martha Ní Riada, UCDSU President, led the protest with a megaphone. She continued to chant; “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “UCD you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide”.
This comes after UCD President Orla Feely refused to take a stance on the conflict. On the 21st of November, in an email to staff and students, she stated “It is not my policy to express positions on behalf of UCD in respect of geopolitical issues.”
Gardaí diverted traffic as the group began to sit on the road. However, an S6 Dublin Bus going to Blackrock station ignored the direction and parked in front of the group.
Speaking to the College Tribune, a member of An Garda Síochána said that they had not been notified of plans to blockade the road. They were only aware of the union’s intention to hold a protest on the flyover.
The doors of the S6 bus were opened to allow passengers to disembark. Passengers declined to make an official comment but made their irritation known, with one passenger attempting to rip the Palestinian flag from the hands of students.
The sit-in continued for twenty minutes, with students leaving the flyover bridge by 2 pm.
After the protest, UCDSU President Martha Ní Riada spoke to the College Tribune saying “The protest was primarily to show support for the Palestinian people and also to call on the university to join the calls for a ceasefire. We have a petition ongoing and we’re trying to get as many staff and students to sign is as we can, to show the university that they can speak on geo-political matters, it’s not an affront to academic freedom to call for a ceasefire.”
Ní Riada cited previous statements that former UCD President Andrew Deeks made on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She argued that previous statements made by the university, before Professor Orla Feely became the UCD President, created a “precedent” for the college making statements on such subjects.
“The President can say that this was the previous administration, but the President was a member of UMT [the University Management Team] at the time so she would have seen the statement before it went out, and I’m sure they would have discussed it as a group and signed off on it.”
“The University should be calling for peace, the university should be calling for a lasting ceasefire.”
Ní Riada explained that they chose to blockade the N11 Flyover as “sometimes you need more direct action for people to listen to you, sometimes you need to inconvenience people too, and it was done in a safe way. I think it’s important as the severity of this issue is massive. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people have been murdered and we need the university to do more, that’s why we decided to blockade the bridge in the hopes that more people listen and more people see it.”
Emma Hanrahan & Hugh Dooley – Co-Editors
