Gardai beat up peaceful protestors to protect them from flying glass!!!!

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday May 07, 2002 03:51 by GluttonMan - LiberalLollipopLickersLiason

Even the Irish Times spin on this can't make it anything but a police riot.

The Irish Times' Maria O'Halloran spins this one as hard as she can for the boys in blue: "A number of people were injured in the clashes, though none seriously"; "He rejected suggestions that some protesters provoked gardaí. However, some 250 participants remained in Dame Street during the clashes [...]" "One of those involved said the car was owned by a participant and it was a symbolic "anti-car" demonstration [...] However, a Garda spokeswoman said it was a public disorder offence" What's the logical import of all the however's Marie? If I'm charitable I can assume that you don't understand what "however" implies in that context. I hope that you're just incompetent and not corrupt.

The best part of the story is the quote from a Bhean Garda:

"She said participants at the event could be injured by flying debris."

And if that didn't happen, then some of the criminals in blue were ready to injure them with flying truncheons. Well done protecting the public lads!

Sidenote:
I can imagine Marie O'Halloran's "balanced" reportage on WorldWar2: "Jewish leaders claimed on Saturday that their friends and families had been carted off by NAZIs to death-camps. However a spokeswoman for Herr Hitler said that only 100 people had been detained for serious crimes that would undermine the stability of the Fatherland."

Ah, yes, balance and objectivity.