Old pairs of children’s shoes have been laid at the entrance to the BBC in Belfast by pro-Palestinian campaigners.
Hundreds of people had gathered at Belfast City Hall and marched to the BBC Blackstaff House building on Friday evening.
They said the ‘Palestinian Children in Need’ march was aimed at highlighting the growing number of children killed in Palestine.
It coincided with the annual Children in Need event, which sees money raised to help improve the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Those attending carried placards and banners, which stated ‘silence is compliance' and Palestine matters. while others had old pairs of children’s shoes.
The Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign IPSC, which was involved in the rally, had appealed to those attending to bring the shoes, which will then be used in a demonstration installation at Stormont later this month.
They said by laying the old pairs of children’s shoes at the BBC it represented the “children murdered by apartheid Israel”.
The shoes will be used by a Co Fermanagh artist.
“Dylan Quinn, an artist from Enniskillen, is running an initiative to gather 17,000 pairs of shoe to lay out before Stormont Buildings, Belfast on November 24, to represent each young life which has been brutally and needlessly taken by Israel since October 2023,” the Belfast Palestine Solidarity Campaign group said.
“As we march to remember the thousands of children murdered in this genocide, we will use it as an opportunity to support this initiative which will bring awareness to the scale of the devastation inflicted on the children of Gaza.”
Many of those involved in the march later made their way to Queen’s University Belfast where another protest was held.
A large crowd gathered at the gates of the university where there was a significant police presence as protesters carrying Palestinian flags shouted “shame”.
It came just a day after a protest against Hillary Clinton’s visit to the university.
The former US Secretary of State had to be whisked away from the university as trouble escalated at the gates of the campus on Thursday.
Three men were arrested during the pro-Palestinian rally and were later charged with resisting police.
The 18-year-old was also charged with obstructing police and the 21-year-old with obstructing police and assault on police.
