Streets claimed by Animals!

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday May 06, 2003 16:13 by Josephine Kelly - Mna Na Mara Jkelly2 at eircom dot net

My piece is 305 words long and it is a summary of events that ruined my bankholiday Monday and my belief in Reclaim the Streets.

Streets claimed by Animals!

I am utterly disgusted by the disrespectful nature of some of these “Crusty’s” who attended the so called R.T.S.

I brought my 10 year old daughter along just to look on as I agreed with this demo in principal and I was hoping that the support of some people from my generation would insure the heavy handed tactics used by the Gardai last year would not be repeated.

As the demo came to an end and we were heading home down Parnell Street we came along a rowdy group of people from the demo who were playing drums. As we tried to pass one of the group either accidentally of on purpose smashed a bottle of “Buckfast” on the road with some of the glass causing a cut to my daughters leg.

I was angered but these people didn’t care at all telling me to “Relax!” and “Don’t get carried away!”. There was also a distinct smell of drugs in the air. I cant believe that reclaiming the streets was meant to result in this type of behaviour. I reported the incident to the a Garda close to the scene who said the these “Crustys” are famous for this type of behaviour. He was encouraging me to press charges but I didn’t want to subject my daughter to anymore time in this environment so I accepted a lift home from the Gardai. I can now see why last years events turned ugly and I would like to know if this is what R.T.S is really all about , a group of smelly crustys drinking Buckfast and doing drugs on our streets. Who the hell do these bums think they are??? I am delighted that today the streets will be reclaimed by people with a bit more respect for their fellow citizens.