Garda 'Jokes' About Taking a Baton to Women and a Child In Galway On Anti-War/Occupation Protest

national | miscellaneous | news report

Wednesday April 16, 2003 16:48

by Maggie - Global Women's Strike

womenstrike8m at server101 dot com

Before the Global Women's Strike Community Picket could even commence today outside Mill St Garda Station in Galway, we were approached by a uniformed Garda who gave us the drill about what we could and couldn't do. Then he added 'I hope I won't have to use my baton on you'. This, apparently, was a 'joke' - he was the only one laughing. It was uttered in the presence of a ten year old boy. Does the vicious attack on women, children and men in Iraq embolden the Garda Siochana to make veiled threats to women and children in this country?

Garda 'Jokes' About Taking a Baton to Women and a Child In Galway On Anti-War and Anti-Occupation Protest

Before the Global Women's Strike Community Picket could even commence today outside Mill St Garda Station in Galway, we were approached by a uniformed Garda who gave us the drill about what we could and couldn't do. Then he added 'I hope I won't have to use my baton on you'. This, apparently, was a 'joke' - he was the only one laughing. It was uttered in the presence of a ten year old boy. Does the vicious attack on women, children and men in Iraq embolden the Garda Siochana to make veiled threats to women and children in this country? War anywhere is an attack on all of us and one of its effects is to justify increased sexism, racism and repression everywhere.
What does it tell our children about the legitimacy of using violence to bully people into submission, silence, inaction - and the bigger violence of war - when they hear grown men in uniform making jokes about hitting women and children? As mothers and other carers, we are on the streets protesting war and occupation exactly because we learned from our mothers and we are teaching our children that we can and should refuse to do - that armies and police can also refuse to do - what bullies, thugs and war criminals like Bush, Blair and Bertie command us to do.
The news got out and other women and men rang the Garda Station to make complaints about this or arrived to support the picket. The Global Women's Strike picket made an official complaint and served notice that we will not tolerate veiled threats of violence against us, violence against anti-war protestors elsewhere or the continuing violence inflicted on our sisters and brothers in wars around the world, including Iraq.