In the early hours of Monday morning, a week ago yesterday, a group of women named Mothers Against Genocide were nearing the end of an overnight vigil outside the gates of Leinster House to commemorate the children of Gaza massacred by the Israel Defence Forces. With children of their own, they were of all ages, some Irish, some Palestinian. They had planned to read and deliver a letter, and had, according to Justine McCarthy in the Irish Times, informed a garda the night prior that they intended to move from the gates by 7.30am to make room for staff arriving for work. The Dáil does not sit on Mondays.

But before dawn, gardai arrived, and amidst cries of indignation, started dismantling the shrine of photos. The women sat in front of the gates in response, and reinforcements arrived. The display was destroyed, trampled upon. Protesters were aggressively dragged away. Eleven men and three women were arrested and taken to various garda stations in Dublin. Some of the women report having been strip-searched, with one claiming she had been 'touched in her sensitive parts'. The........

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