Last Saturday the Drogheda Stands with Palestine group collected over 1,000 signatures from the people of Drogheda for a petition calling for the Occupied Territories Bill to be enacted as soon as possible.

 The group has held a weekly vigil every Saturday since October 2023 at 12 noon outside St Peter's Church in West Street in solidarity with the people of Palestine and in particular Gaza who have been experiencing what can only be described as a genocide.

"The group in no way condone the actions of Hamas but we stand in protest with the disproportionate response of the Israeli government and defence forces that have seen at least 61,000 Palestinian people killed and countless more wounded” said group member Alan Kelly. “We stand as a community based group supporting this humanitarian cause.”

“On Saturday the group held a different kind of event, a petition to gather as many signatures of the people of Drogheda as possible to present to our local T.D.'s in order for them to put pressure on the Government to enact what is known as the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB)

“The OTB is a proposed law that would ban trade between Ireland and Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank, making the import of goods or services originating from these lands a criminal offence. This would directly affect the funding of the Israeli army and help stop the genocide.

“The OTB was originally passed in 2018 but successive governments have failed to enact the law. With tremendous support from our own group as well as from local musicians and businesses we were able to hold a three-hour family event on West Street with music, face painting and coffee and with the fantastic support of the people of Drogheda we managed to get over 1,000 signatures.

“Those signatures alongside our online petition which we launched on Saturday, will be presented to our local T.D.'s in two weeks’ time. The group would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who signed the petition and supported the event".