Dublin (AFP) - A European Nations League match between Ireland and Austria in Dublin was stopped on Thursday, twice briefly, due to pro-Palestinian protests.
Published on: 02/10/2026 - 09:04
In the 19th minute, fans threw tennis balls covered with stickers bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag onto the field.
The players left the field for a few minutes, before the match resumed.
In the 35th minute, a man stormed the field waving the Palestinian flag, which led to the match being stopped again for a short period.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw.
Ireland's Icelandic coach, Heimir Hallgrimsson, said after the match: "No one is happy with these protests, but I understand and respect them."
These events come in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Nations League match between Ireland and Israel on Sunday.
After lengthy discussions about boycotting the match in protest against the war in Gaza, the Irish players ultimately decided to play the match that was held in Hungary on neutral ground in the middle of almost empty stands.
Irish players wore black armbands during the match, which they won 3-0, while the captains of the two teams did not shake hands or exchange the flags of the two countries before the start of the match.
The return match is scheduled to be held on Sunday, again on neutral ground in Serbia, after the Irish Football Association considered that holding the match on its soil was extremely sensitive.
On Thursday evening, about 200 protesters gathered outside the Dublin Arena, as part of a campaign called “Stop the Match.”
“I am very opposed to these two matches against Israel, because that basically means using sports to whitewash genocide,” said Joan Doyle, a 56-year-old primary school teacher who was among the protesters. “Sports are political. It has happened time and time again that people have boycotted sporting events.”
Mark Comey, a 26-year-old engineer, said: “Ireland should not cooperate with genocide. We have already played a match against Israel, which is committing genocide, and we have crossed the Palestinian barrier calling for a boycott.”
Dublin officially recognized a Palestinian state in 2024, along with Spain and Norway, and repeatedly criticized Israel during the war in Gaza.
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© 2026 AFP
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