info on kissinger protests

by publo Wed Mar 06, 2002 17:56

there are a few reports on the message board. it was an interesting day, from when i arrived shortly before half 8 that morning (in the snow) there was a noisy crowd of whome less than half i guess were actually students( the talk kissboy was giving was in university college cork at 280 yoyos a head)although threre was one or two lecturers involved(big up the law lads). it snowed and rained almost all morning and the crowd size swelled and shrank in accordance. a bit of life was thrown back into all of us when the tanaiste mary harny rolled past, and id say she was appalled at some of the comments thrown at her. soon after kissboy was snaked in a side entrance but a good few of the lads were waitin for him and there was some hustle and bustle. in the boole basement i heard (coulnt get in without UCC id-im alumni now!)that the kiss was accosted all the way to the lecture hall, mean while outside the entrance hed gotten in there was a single craggy island garda who dint notice until after that two protesters had let the air out of two merc wheels while the rest of us were chanting and banging drums.
by the time the lecturew was due to finish a decant crowd had reassembled around the side of the library, here his car was waiting to take him away and thw gardai( of whom we were blessed with 20{on the o/t trip}) threw up some barricades to keep us away from the cars.
a large crowd began to gather and the weather was holding off but in about 10 mins the bastard began to snow again. what made the day for me was not that i got to howl at harney, but that the students stayed throughout the snow and even increased in nos somewhat.student apathy is real but that day i was surprised by ucc especially cos all the while there was chantin (and a nice oulfella singin john lennon...all you need is love...)and then there was a face off with the gardai as they ordered the crowd to move or to be arrested. no one stirred and after a while the law tried to drive the cars[note. no kissboy] through the mass. the first 30 or more people( the irish examiner said there were 400 there) immediately sat down arms interlocked to stop the progress...not long passed though before the guards simply stopped what they were doing and walked away. the kissboy had been taken out another way. now its natural to say, well why hadnt ye blocked off all 5 or 6 exits? or so on . well i think myself that although we were aware that he could be snaked away, that the protest itself, rather than harrasment of the man, was the important thing. remember UCC were hosting the langer while neglecting to even get the students photocopiers or bike parking spots. the protest became a thing of itself it had some sort of motion that i hevent seen in ages, there was a sense of in/justice, that hung in the air. even after we knew that kiss boy was gone people stayed where they were as a unit, not to do any particular thing but just because there was a sense of solidness. anyway thats just me having a goo on indymedia...
where did it say what in which guardian?

by Michael Ronan O'Connell - Globalize Resistance - Drop the Debt Coalition - SWP Wed Mar 06, 2002 17:20 michaeloconnell2001 at yahoo dot com +44 87 9212272 - 087 9212272

I was at the protest in case you wish to send me an email of exactly what you are looking for.

Michael.