Seville /Scrap the POA demo

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday June 18, 2002 18:56 by GR - Globalise Resistance globalise_resistance at yahoo dot com

Globalise Resistance bulletin

1. Solidarity with Seville protest 2. Report back meeting after Seville. 3. Scrap the POA 4. Anti Sellafield/RTS gig 5. Building for the European Social Forum

1. Solidarity with Seville protest
no borders; no frontiers – Europe for people not profit.

On Saturday 22nd June the main protests will kick off at the EU summit
in Seville. Those of us who didn’t make it to Seville intend to make
our
voices heard nonetheless! We will gather at the Central Bank at 2pm and
make some noise and hand out leaflets with a view to raising public
awareness of the issues involved.
In particular we are protesting at the new clampdown on immigration in
Europe being led wholeheartedly by our own Minister for “justice”,
McDowell.
The EU leaders are pushing neo-liberal economic policies that give
greater and greater freedoms to corporations but at the same time
they’re demanding ever more stringent controls on people. Many of the
people seeking asylum in Europe are the victims of EU policies on Third
World Debt, privatisation and arms dealing in their home countries.
Come along and show your solidarity with the hundreds of thousands who
will be protesting these policies in Seville.

For everyone going to Seville if you have not already done so you can
contact the GR group by phoning Donal on 087 6838746 or go to the irish
campsite in Parque de Alamillo in Seville.

2. Public meeting after Seville.

On Wednesday June 26th following the protest in Seville there will be
a
report back meeting in Frasiers bar (upstairs) in O’Connell Street at
8pm.
Some of the people going to Seville this week have already agreed to
give us a full account of events and to bring back video footage which
we can show on the night. We hope all those who travel will show up and
talk about their experiences and how it goes with the movement in
Spain.

3. Scrap the Public Order Act!

GR held a press conference on the 6th June to launch the campaign to
abolish the Public Order Act. Present were people who had been unjustly
arrested under the act on various demonstrations. In the last 6 months
the POA has been used to arrest people demonstrating for peace, against
neo-liberalism, about environmental issues and, just recently, a group
of striking workers were arrested at their own workplace.

GR and other groups will be sending a demand to the incoming Minister
for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, that he repeal the act on the
grounds that it contains legislation likely to lead to infractions of
civil rights. This letter will also be sent to newspapers in the form
of
a press release.

Since September 11th 2001 there has been a dramatic increase in the
instances of the POA being used against political protests. Those
charged under this act in recent months include: 2 members of the Irish
Anti-War Movement, 14 activists from Globalise Resistance, 8 people
arrested on a critical mass bike day, 2 anti-war campaigners who
protested in Shannon, 1 GR member who was lobbying support for Irish
activists detained in Genoa. and 8 people taking part in Reclaim the
Streets on the May bank holiday weekend. All of these were peacefully
protesting on issues of immediate concern to the Irish public.

There will be a demonstration on Saturday 6th July at 3pm at the
Central
Bank, Dame St. in defence of those facing charges, and to call for the
POA to be scrapped.

4. Anti Sellafield/RTS gig

There is to be a concert at the Temple Bar Music Centre on Wednesday
the 19th June from 7.30 – 11.30 featuring-

King Sativa
Roderigez y Gabriella
The Happy City Samba Band

Admission is free, but people will be encouraged to donate what they
can, and there will be a photo and video display featuring footage from
recent demonstrations.

5 Building for the European Social Forum

A reminder that the first meeting to co-ordianate the mobilisation for
the European Social Forum (ESF) from Ireland will be held in the
Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Sq on Tuesday July 2nd at 7.30pm.
For copies of the GR leaflets about the ESF or more info contact Grace
on 086 4098186