international

Stop The Game

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The Irish men’s soccer team is scheduled to play Israel in the Nations’ League, on September 27th and – at home – on October 4th, 2026. A campaign was launched to “Stop the game” in Dublin as a form of protest and disengagement, most prominently in the form of an open letter (instagram) sent to the FAI signed by footballers and various musicians.

The FAI instead appealed to UEFA to have the game played behind closed doors in a neutral country, saying that while it was “deeply conscious” of the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, it did not want to forfeit the points or be disqualified from the competition (FAI).

The large tarp shown above has been added (on June 18th) on top of the long Painting For Palestine mural on Divis Street.

In the bottom right corner of the image above can be seen one of the placards – reading “No to hate”, “Fight racism”, and “Yes to all!” – added last week (June 17th) in response to the rioting in east Belfast and elsewhere – see McMaster Street Remembers. (These additions are reminiscent of the ‘Free Marian Price’ additions in 2013 – see Scaoıl Saor Marian Price in the Peter Moloney Collection.)

Also included (below) is a positive form of sporting support for Palestine: an 10 km “Cycle For Palestine” (web).

Divis Street, west Belfast

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Palestine Bleeds

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“Over 20,000 children killed. That’s more than one child killed every hour. And 42,000 injured by the Israeli murder machine. Their revenge will be the laughter of their children. Andersonstown stands with Palestine. We are all Palestinians.” The figures perhaps come from a Save The Children report from September, 2025.

South Link, Andersonstown, west Belfast, next to the large Oppression Breeds Resistance mural.

See also: The Occupied Territories.

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The Magic Within

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“The Shamrock supports Kneecap”. At the time this mural was originally painted, in June 2025, Kneecap member Mo Chara (Lıam Óg Ó hAnnaıdh) was facing charges of displaying a flag of a proscribed organisation (Hezbollah). That charge was thrown out on technical grounds and the appeal against that motion was denied in March (BBC).

The Scottish flags are flying over the Shamrock in support of the World Cup soccer team. Scotland is in Group C with Haiti, Morocco, and Brazil.

Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast

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Drop Allianz

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The campaign urging the GAA to sever its ties to sponsor Allianz (web) began in August 25th, after an update to a 2024 report by the UN urged businesses – including Allianz – to end their ties with Israel (UN | youtube). In response, a letter of protest, signed by 800 former and current players, was delivered to the GAA (RTÉ) but a vote in December retained the sponsorship (BBC | Irish Examiner). Protests have continued (e.g. at the GAA congress), among which is this message written in posters on the hoarding around Casement Park (for which, see Build Casement Now).

Andersonstown Road, west Belfast

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Ireland Stands With Venezuela

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“Free Maduro! Free Flores! Prisoners of war.” Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn (New York) detention centre since they entered “not guilty” pleas on January 5th. The next hearing has been moved from March 17th to March 26th (Roya).

This is a Lasaır Dhearg (web) banner in the railings of the Falls Park, next to the Ógra Shınn Féın (web) banner shown in Hands Off Venezuela.

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Genocidal Hole

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“Israel is still a genocidal hole”. The peace plan for Gaza was signed on October 9th. Since then, 442 Palestinians have been killed, according to Al Jazeera’s tracker. The amount of food aid being allowed into the strip has improved in January, with 100% of the “minimum caloric need” being met for the first time since October 2023 (UN) but the humanitarian crisis remains “extremely serious” (UN).

This graffiti is at Camberwell Terrace just off the Antrim Road, north Belfast.

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Hands Off Venezuela

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“Hands off Venezuela – Dlúthpháırtíocht le muınt[ı]r Veınıséala [Solidarity with the people of Venezuela]” Commentary from Ógra Shınn Féın (web) on the recent US actions against Venezuela, which have included attacks on small boats beginning in September 2025 (WP), an embargo on oil leaving the country announced in December 2025 (Guardian), and most recently (January 2nd) air-strikes on targets in and around Caracas and the capture of Nicolás Meduro and Cilia Flores (BBC). After the removal of Meduro, US President Donald Trump said that the US would run Venezuela and that between 30 and 50 million barrels-worth of Venezuelan oil would be shipped to the US, sold, and the proceeds disbursed by Trump himself “to ensure it used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States” (AP).

For a history of the image, which shows a Venezuelan hand grabbing a US hand, see England, Get Out Of Ireland.

Falls Road, west Belfast

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Blessed Are Those Who Hunger For Justice

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Palestine Action was declared a “terrorist organisation” in July, 2025, after members broke into Brize Norton and spray-painted Air Force planes and breached an Elbit facility near Bristol and caused an estimated one million pounds-worth of damage (Canary) in 2024. (Elbit is an Israeli defence contractor with 16 sites in the UK – WP.)

Eight of the twenty-nine people held on charges related to these events began hunger-strikes in November and December, 2025. They are listed on the placard in the third image: Kamran Ahmed, Teuta Hoxha, Heba Muraisi, Umer Khalid, Qesser Zuhran, Amu Big, Lewie Chiaramello, Jon Cink.

Update: The last three strikers ended their fasts in January, claiming victory when a large government contract went to Raytheon rather than Elbit (CNN | Guardian).

The phrase “blessed are those who hunger for justice” goes back to the 1981 hunger strike, and the “five demands” to the blanket protest.

“The Five Demands: 1. End all censorship 2. Immediate bail 3. Right to fair trail 4. De-proscribe Palestine Action 5. Shut Elbit down.”

The “Green Brigade” is a group of Celtic ultras (web) – see also Ultras At Work.

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Stand Up To Racism

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Or, in Arabic, “قف ضد العنصرية”. Michelangelo’s ‘The Creation Of Adam‘ is re-imagined as an act of solidarity between Palestinians and Irish people.

Cliftonpark Avenue, north Belfast

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The Occupied Territories

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Here are three pairs of photos – courtesy of Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pics – from the Buncrana Road between Coshquin and Bridge End, at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

On the Republic side of the border, two boards are propped up on small trailers. The first reads “Israel/USA kill a classroom of kids every day” with a small drawing of a dove. Prior to the current (nominal) ceasefire, Palestinian children were killed at a rate of one every hour (Save The Children).

The second reads ,”US warplanes out of Shannon” illustrated by a bomber-plane and drops of blood. “Shannon Watch” is a web-site dedicated to tracking miltary activity at Shannon airport. According to RTÉ, 978 US planes used Shannon in the three years of 2022-2023-2024. The government maintains that such visits are not a violation of Ireland’s policy of military neutrality (WP).

From the road-sign just on the Northern Ireland side, “Welcome to Northern Occupied Ireland”.

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