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GARDAI BAN ANTI WAR PROTEST FROM DUBLIN’S GRAFTON ST. national |
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news report
 Saturday December 07, 2002 12:16 by IRISH ANTI WAR MOVEMENT
 A march to the US embassy in opposition to US war on Iraq due to take place in Dublin today (7th December) has been banned by Gardai from the Grafton St area of the city. IRISH ANTI WAR MOVEMENT NEWS FLASH….NEWSFLASH….NEWSFLASH……
GARDAI BAN ANTI WAR PROTEST FROM DUBLIN’S GRAFTON ST.
A march to the US embassy in opposition to US war on Iraq due to take place in Dublin today (7th December) has been banned by Gardai from the Grafton St area of the city. The Irish Anti War Movement (IAWM) who are organising the protest were informed yesterday by Gardai that they will be ‘physically prevented’ from marching through Grafton St. The march which is expected to number several thousand will assemble at the Central Bank Plaza on Dame St in Dublin city centre at 2pm was due to march up Grafton St to Stephen’s Green before progressing onto the US embassy in Ballsbridge.
Richard Boyd Barrett, chairperson of the IAWM who was informed of the Gardai decision Friday denounced the Gardai move. He said: “This is a political decision to crack down on the substantial and growing anti war movement in this country. It is also part of a more general crack down by this state on peaceful demonstrations, which has been evident over the last year. We saw it most clearly demonstrated on the Re-claim the streets march last summer when Gardai brutally attacked demonstrators, but Gardai harassment of protests has markedly increased since the end of last year.”
Supporting his view that this was a political decision Boyd Barrett said: “The last anti war demonstration we organised in September had nearly two thousand people on it and was allowed down Grafton St by the Gardai. That demonstration passed off completely peacefully. I personally have been on several large demonstrations that went down Grafton St including student demonstrations that numbered over five thousand. All passed off without any incident.”
He added: “The Garda Inspector who phoned me from Pearse St Garda station told me directly that the decision came from higher up. He named Chief Superintendent William Donoghue as the man who had informed him that the march would not be allowed go up Grafton St. Although, you would have to wonder whether or not this is not coming directly from the government and Michael Mc Dowell’s office. This government is very worried by the high level of public opposition in Ireland to the US war in Iraq and in particular to the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. There has is also an international crack-down on protest and civil liberties since September 11th led by the US but now being taken up by other governments including our own.”
Boyd Barrett appealed to the Gardai and government to reverse this decision and allow a peaceful protest against the real violence of war in the world to be allowed go down its intended route. “We want to get across a simple message that killing innocent people in Iraq or elsewhere will do nothing to solve the problems of conflict in the world and we want to do it in a peaceful way. Opinion polls show clearly that the majority of people in this country agree with that and want Ireland to have nothing to do with this crazy war drive. Tragically this government thinks its relationship with George Bush is more important than democracy but we appeal to them to listen to the people or at let allow them to speak. If the Gardai or government don’t reverse this decision we will have to look at our options tomorrow.”
Boyd Barrett concluded: “in the face of this attempt to censor the anti war movement we call on all those opposed to war and the use of Shannon by the military to take to the streets and make their voices heard.”
Speakers at the event include: Jeremy Corbyn MP Labour party (Britain), Des Geraghty, SIPTU President, Mary Van Lieshout (US citizens for Alternatives to War) as well as school children, third level students and representatives of the Islamic community in Ireland.
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Comments (10 of 10)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10We of the movement would like to wish the Shannon demo and the GrassRoots Network the very best in peace and love on Sunday.
Dame St area through Grafton ST - Stephens Green.
no too dodgy all those troublemakes and its no shopping season and all they might intefere with the stealth santa reindeer project.
Dame st- Nassau st- Merrion SQ------embassy?
historical straight walk.
by Joycean love at the sandwich shop, past Oscar Wilde´s mammy´s house and her shouting against the state sure it was almost treason.
What was it they called her?
.........Speranza.
hope
Dame St. -Nassau ST- Kildare St.
good walk. but bit bottlenecked at Lord Leinster´s fashionable house.
Dame St. Nassau st. dawson st. : molesworth st kildare st oooops seat of government again.
Dame st. nassua st. dawson st : Stephens Green.
horse trough be kind to your animals, left turn, shelbourne hotel banks and dead dead hugeneots, bottleneck squeeze through to Baggot St.
spill over to Lienster house seat of government ooops, or Ely House seat of government past.
hmmm.
Dame St. Sth. Gr. Georges Street, towards the mountains, not a bit a of trouble at all, as we stroll past the death sites of lost forgotten catholic priests in sauna parlours, through the chinese quarter to the asian shops to portobello bridge.
bottle neck.
Dame st. to U.S. embassy
without passing local government.
or local police.
or a pub?
remember if you do not pass go
you can´t collect your 200punts/pounds/€/$
Dame st to U.S. embassy.
leeson st.
take a left at clarendon street.
hmmm.
Grafton st has 8 minor streets intersecting with it.
To effectively "continental professional intimidating politicised police force style"
"prevent entry of protesters to Grafton st area" would require a certain number of garda units.
I do not feel they have enough to stop entry to Grafton street and afford the U.S. embassy sufficient security on it´s perimeter.
Game Note:::::::::::::: THE U.S. forces will guard their own embassy, now it shall as always be interesting to see where the jurisdiction shall start and end. For the oldtimers record, the boundaries of the U.S. embassy as leased by the Republic of Ireland in full diplomatic and friendly relations of the site for consular and diplomatic embassy is slightly smaller than may appear.
Becuase the U.S. has been enlarging the perimeter with concrete potted plants for years.
Now I´m not against potted plants.
I think they should be all over the place in a guerrilla gardening sort of way, but stopping people going up Grafton street, that´s stupid.
It smells of provocation.
and trouble making.
Chief Super. are you really sure this is decision taken to achieve the greatest public order?
there are DART and Buses to U.S.A. Dublin 4.
say hi from me.
O as if.
peace=siochain=shalom=saleem
And shame on them for trying to block you.
For those of us who can't be there, shout a bit louder for us.
Tim
Shannon
Jeez, don't just sit there and take it like a little whipping boy!
This is going to be one of the biggest marches in Dublin for years - they can't arrest you all, and I doubt that they are going to start a riot on Grafton street 3 weeks before Christmas.
If you are firm and stand together YOU WILL walk up grafton street.
Just do it!
Walk right on up Grafton St. Whether or not you piss off a chief super, his masters will continue their war and you(we)'ll have to face them down eventually.
So make believe that ye're all the Irish anti-war movement and walk by your principles.
The struggle will build itself, and being friendly with chief supers wont help it anyway but down.
I won't be there but I'm sure I'll see some of you tomorrow.
Winona Ryder. if you´re interested goto Spartacus article on the newswire. (oh yes the students go on holidays and Spartie-dude returns to explain everything to us as only he can).
Greetings from an American,
Good luck all and I look forward to hearing about how the march goes. I trust and hope that the march will go forward anyway, right? keep it up, keep the pressure on. Solidarity from an activist living in the heart of the beast. AmeriKKKa.
If You're reading this,
You are such a fucking tool....
Of course the police were correct to prevent a bunch of leftie layabouts from disrupting business in a major shopping location.
Some people are really thick. Oh no the shoppers, but what about the traffic, and so on. These layabouts who do they think they are trying to influence government. Do they think they're qualified or something. Sure Bertie got it all sorted, Budget and all...