arrestees

dublin | summit mobilisations | news report

Sunday May 02, 2004 21:18

by backup

whats happening to the people at cloverhill

right, a mate of mine was arrested last night, he was at the front so technically he was fair game but he was DEFINITELY completely non-violent. neither I, his parents or any of his mates have heard from him so i don't know if he got to make a phone call. the legal advice team (thanks by the way) told us that there was a special sitting at a court last night starting around 11 and going on for quite a while. the haste with which people were brought before the judge meant that the gardai didn't get to verify addresses leaving the judge with no option but to remand the majority of them in custody in cloverhill until WEDNESDAY. by all accounts the judge was pretty pissed off at having to deal with this shite all night which probably didn't help matters. had the gardai taken the time to verify his address last night, my friend would probably be out on bail now (bail was set at 500 + 500 independent surety). bank holiday today and tomorrow means that there's definitely no chance of anything happening til tuesday and even then its unlikely. I believe (not certain though) that most people were only charged with relatively minor offences such as public disorder and threatening behaviour etc. so could expect punishments along the lines of a caution/fine/probation for first offence. I m sure he'll be fine but its very worrying to know that he's been incarcerated for 3/4 days for a minor offence and has been unable to contact a friend or a relative. he doesn't know who knows about what happened or when he'll be released..
just posting this for the benefit of anyone whose wondering whats happening to those arrested. if anyone has any more info about their progress let us know.