About 100 people gathered at the Let Them Study demonstration outside the Department of Justice on Friday to protest against the refusal of visas to students from Gaza. More than 20 prospective students from Gaza have been refused visas allowing them to take up fully funded places in Irish universities from September. Last year about 60 Gazans were evacuated by Irish authorities to study in Ireland.[ ‘Studying in Ireland was the hope I was holding on to’: Palestinian teacher ‘dying inside’ since visa refusedOpens in new window ]Some of the reasons for rejection given to students in Gaza recently include not supplying original bank statements, not accounting for gaps in their education, and a failure to provide strong evidence that they will return home once their course of study is complete. Former People Before Profit (PBP) TD Bríd Smith said she believes people are shocked by the response of the Department of Justice. “To ask students to provide documentation when it’s [Gaza] in the middle of a genocide. They don’t have original documentation,” she said.She said Gazan students, “will rebuild Gaza, but they won’t do it unless they’re educated”. Senator Laura Harmon urged Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to take action. “He needs to ensure these students get their visas,” she said. The Labour spokeswoman for further and higher education said, “they’re [the Gazan students] qualified to study here. They’ve been accepted. The colleges are really eager and excited to take them in”. [ Refusing visas to Gaza students: humanity and common sense should applyOpens in new window ]Harmon said she has been in contact with five distressed Gazan students denied visas who asked her to intervene. Daniel Walsh, president of Amlé (formerly the Union of Students in Ireland), said the union was at the protest in solidarity with the students and that Amlé believes education should be a path to a brighter future. Walsh spoke of Palestinian students who worked hard while living in unimaginable circumstances only to find themselves “facing a further barrier to education in the form of strict, stringent visa requirements that frankly don’t reflect their reality, and that reality is one of living through an active genocide”. Ghada Ashour, one of the speakers at the protest, came to Ireland from Gaza last year to study for a master’s degree at DCU. Ashour said her life changed completely because of the scholarship she received. “For a Palestinian student a university offer is not simply an email it may be the only thing which can keep them hopeful ... it may be the first time in years that they allow themselves to imagine a future,” she said. Addressing the visa requirements for original documents, she said, “they are being asked right now to provide ordinary documents from a place where nothing is ordinary”. Erin Foley, president of South East Technological University’s (SETU) student union, read a letter from Shahd, a Palestinian who received a scholarship to study at SETU but was denied a visa. After being rejected Shahd said: “I found myself wondering whether all those sacrifices had been for nothing.” James Hickey, an organiser with PBP said the students being denied visas are potentially future doctors and nurses who could rebuild Gaza. “The fact that we’re not even letting them come here to study, I think is shameful,” he said. In a statement the Department of Justice said: “Each visa application is assessed on its own merits, taking all relevant information into consideration at that time. All visa applicants are advised that the responsibility is on them to provide as much information in support of their application as they feel is necessary.” It added, “applicants that carefully follow these guidelines have an improved prospect of receiving a positive decision at first instance. The reasons for a refusal are outlined in the decision letter issued to the applicants”. The department declined to comment on Friday’s protest.