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Anti-Empire
The Saker Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandIndymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
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Gardai were not out of control national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Wednesday May 08, 2002 10:57 by Andrew - Off my own bat
 Reading some of the posts here and listening to media coverage it is clear that some people are keen to scapegoat a few Gardai for what happened. The suggestion is that only 6-8 were involved in a single incident of violence. This is not what happened. The worst of the Gardai violence was on Dame street but this did not happen down some back alley. This was an attack by a group of 60 Gardai led by senior officers in full public view. The Gardai that were most furious in carrying out this assult where they knew they could be seen by the senior cops obviously felt that they had their permission to do so. Likewise with the removal of numbers, they did this knowing there were senior officers present, they obviously did not feel that these senior cops would question them on this. We are unlikely to find out if this was actually a formal premission more likely it was simply the Gardai acting as they often do when cameras are not present. In addition this was not a one off 'loss of control'. As shown by other reports on indymedia and extracts from my report at http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2002/rtsMAY.html below since at least 16.00 a number of Gardai had been involved in hitting protesters on the head with batons, beating one man unconsious, stopping indymedia filming these assaults and beating people they had arrested both on the way to Pearse street and in the cells there. So what we have is not a brief loss of control by a few officers but a pro-longed attack on the freedom to protest involving arrests, beatings and attacks on the media from around 16.00 to after 19.30. Consider also the other attacks on protests this year and it is quite clear that these methods are approved from the top of the force down. Before the extracts from the report one comment. People are rightly annoyed about SWP/GR hijacking what happened and calling a protest on their own rather then arranging one with RTS or the defendents. This is not new, the SWP fancy themselves as our leaders and like to make decisions for us. Despite this it is important that Thursdays protest, if it goes ahead, is as big as possible. So turn up and demand that the speakers should be the RTS organisers and those arrested and injured (who are willing to attend) rather then a string of SWP election candidates. Obviously I think this should be conditional on a statement from the RTS organisers asking people to support the event. Reclaim the Protest! Extracts from Around 16.00 "A little later at the same point they pulled a homeless man out of the crowd. A group of five or so cops they proceeded to beat him senseless before throwing him in the back of a van. When others tried to intervene to stop the beating they threatened to arrest them also. As this happened in the side street the vast majority there were unaware what was going on and continued partying." Around 18.00 |
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Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0507/protest.jpg
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This Guard needs to be made a scapegoat of. He personally acted totally out of order, and is clearly seen A) with id badges removed b) Viciously going for head hits with his baton to anyone in his vicintity..
He should be named and shamed, suspension isn't good enough for him.
Didn't Gardai remove their numbers when they beat up the Concerned Parents Against drugs people in Summerhill a few years ago.
Maybe someone who was present there or who knows the details could seek to publicise this piece of history.
What's important is that the Gardai are not allowed to get away with discipling a couple of the worst offenders and letting off the top cops and the legal system. If we are calling for sackings let's demand the top cops are sacked. More importantly lets hight light the fact that since the passing of the Public Order Bill the cops have been more and more blatant in their attacks on the freedom to protest. This is because it gives them not only ridiculous powers (being able to quite literally order people around) but also carries potentially serious consequences for those who disobey them. As people know from Monday this can simply mean asking why you are being ordered to move from one bit of the street to another.
On CPAD, I didn't witness this but I have been on many demonstrations where Gardai have removed their numbers, its so standard I didn't think to remark on it on Monday. When the gardai baton charged the Burlington demo last year some of the cops doing this (some of whom were then on Monday) had also removed thier numbers and again a senior cop was present
According to the Times, a Mr Derek Fairbrother was awarded £375,000 compensation + £200,000 legal costs after proving he had been hit on the head by a garda baton, which is against official policy. Obviously we're not about money, but...