Stand With Palestine Events and Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day

Yesterday's bomb attacks in London have been universally condemned by Anti-war groups in Ireland and Britain. Many right wing commentators have tried to link the murder of these innocent people to the anti-war movements, to the broad muslim community, to those people who protested against poverty and war at the G8 summit in Scotland, and in particular to anarchists. However, these claims are contradicted by the sweeping condemnations of this act that have been issued by the groups in question.

Rossport 5 Support Rally Planned For Belmullet Saturday Jul 9 / Compiled Details Of Upcoming Support Events / 500 Join Shell Demo In Dublin / Further Protest in Galway Against the Jailing of the Rossport Five. / Shell Oil Depot Blockade In Cork Photo Report / Rossport 5 Song / Shell QRA: What They Will Risk

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A spokesperson for Ogra Sinn Fein said: “We are aiming tonight to keep up the pressure on Statoil, who own over 36% of the consortium seeking to exploit the Corrib field. Support from members of the driving public at previous protests has been nothing short of phenomenal and we know similar actions have been taken in other parts of the country and are planned in the days and weeks to come by comrades in Sinn Fein and other people outraged by the treatment of Philip and Vincent McGrath, Willie Corduff, James P Philbin and Michael Seighin at the hands of Shell and Statoil."

A long day. I overslept slightly and cycled into town just on the dot of midday, as a pink samba band were being followed by a phalanx of riot cops with shields, and mounties (horses also accessorised for the occasion). Today was the "Carnival for Full Enjoyment", and a lot of rumours and whispers had been going around that this was "the one to watch". I generally thought this was police hype, so I didnt add to it in last nights report. Even a non-political friend of mine in Edinburgh was asking me if this was going to be the really violent demo of the week, and how everyone in her workplace was talking about it, and the management in her cafe were wondering if they should board up the windows or not...

The pink drummers tried to march one way and were turned back, so headed off West quite quickly, leaving a load of people to run up behind them. This was right on the dot of midday and I thought it was a bit foolish to be marching off so fast, considering a lot of people probably hadnt arrived at the meetup point yet. As it happened, the carnival was split in two, with the other group heading east on Princes St on their own, where they had their own fun and games reportedly. The Clown Army were in some other part of town doing their thing, and were met with huge amounts of Police surrounding them.

So a group of around 400, possibly a quarter of which was made up of rubberneckers, hangers-on, mainstream journalists and other assorted non-combatants, marched for approximately 20 minutes before being shepherded away from their intended direction by four mounties blocking the road. The march went on for a bit and then rounded a corner towards an office block. I assumed that this one was of the places marked out on some pre-determined trail, possibly with some links to business. The street was narrow and there was cops at both ends...

Did I neglect to mention how many Police there were? There were lots. Hundreds. Thousands possibly. Very in your face, lots of evidence gatherers, with extremely hi-tech equipment, taking pictures of people masked up and being quite physical about it. They followed the march as much as they could with as many people. There were police from everywhere following the demonstration, including from Manchester, Humberside, Merseyside and the London Met.

UPDATE 11.25 PM 5 JUL:
Deportation plane leaving at 1 am
******** 21 years old - 4 months pregnant by Irish Guy - is the daughter of a woman who has been allowed leave to remain here on humanitarian grounds. She is being deported on the plane. She was allowed a single phonecall to her mother tonight by the Gardai. No room at the inn in Ireland anymore. There are several pregnant women of different nationalities locked up in Mountjoy Women's prison this eveining. Their immediate fate is unclear at the time of writing.
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INDYMEDIA.IE 4 JUL:
RAR (Residents Against Racism) have heard from various asylum seekers whom they are in contact with that Gardai were seen in and out of pubs and homes in Blanchardstown picking up approximately 20 Nigerian asylum seekers last night. Some women were also picked up last week in Galway. The men are now in Cloverhill Prison and the women (two at least) are in Mountjoy Women's Prison.

One of the women in Mountjoy is Tanya Dube who was resident for the last 4 years in Galway. This is the same Tanya Dube who after being locked up in the Women's prison in Mountjoy in July 2002 while heavily pregnant, was brought to hospital with a 'guard' of two ban gardai and two female prison officers. She was released after her recovery without any money or train or bus ticket at the time and, after returning to Galway with money provided out of the pocket of a RAR member, was later subsequently brought to Crumlin Hospital with her newborn and gravely ill baby who died after two days.

She is now separated from her husband who has already been deported and her teenage son who is still in Galway.

The RAR activist I spoke to believes a mass deportation to Nigeria is imminent. RAR are thus calling for an EMERGENCY protest at the GNIB Burgh Quay on Tuesday 5th July at 1.30pm.