Scuffles At Mountjoy As Maura Harrington Is Jailed
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Thursday March 12, 2009 12:37
by Andrew - WSM (personal capacity)
This evening (Wed 11th March), after the news of the 30 day sentence imposed on 55 year old Shell to Sea protester Maura Harrington filtered through, supporters converged on the gates of Mountjoy prison. By the time the van carrying Maura came into view over 30 supporters were waiting at the prison gates, matched by a similar number of Gardai.
Latest Stories About This:
Maura Harrington to be taken to Mountjoy Jail for 28 Days
* "Veteran Shell to Sea Campaigner, Maura Harrington has just been sentenced to 28 days imprisonement in Mountjoy"
Report on day in court which led to Maura Harrington's Jailing
* "Yesterday evening Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington was sentenced to 28 days in prison in relation to an assault charge arising from the incident at Pollathomais Pier on the 11th June 2007."
Political Policing sees Maura Harrington jailed for 28 days
* "This evening at Belmullet court Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington was sentenced to 28 days in prison in relation to an assault at Pollathomais Pier on the 11th June 2007."
Send Messages of Solidarity
Maura Harrington
Dochas Centre
Mountjoy Prison
N Circular Road
Dublin 7
There had already been brief scuffles earlier in the evening when a Gardai van drove up to the gates and was blocked in case this was a ruse to sneak Maura in. This time it was known Maura was in the van and most of those present blocked the road. Gardai waded into the crowd shoving people out of the way until they had managed to force the van through the protesters and into the prison beyond.
Apologies for the quality of the images, all I had with me was a camera phone
Comments (25 of 25)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25Well done to all involved, solidarity
shells cops..... I mean the Gardai outnumbered the protesters!
Unfortunately outnumbered by the Black & Day-Glos!
Please send messages of support to Maura:
Dochas Centre
Mountjoy Prison
N Circular Road
Dublin 7
A Mhaire a chara,
Coinnigh do mhisneach!
Nach naireach an sceal e bean mar thu a chuir sa bpriosun is a bhfuil do bhithunaigh sa tir seo!!!
Scannal amach is amach!!
Ca bhfuil an dli is an ceart sa tir seo?
Well done to the Dubs for giving Maura a warm welcome. Shell to hell.
The Garda went a wee bit over the top last night. They outnumbered us slightly and used fairly heavy handed tactics to remove us from the road.
This person has gone to prison because she assaulted another person and because she refused to undertake not to repeat her actions.
I cannot see why someone should be eulogized for an assault, just because the victim was a police-officer.
I bet the vast majority of the mayo and Irish people share my views.
Perhaps Indymedia would like to clarify its views on assaulting members of the Gardai, and whether assault is to be considered OK where the victim is a member of the Gardai?
We deserve an answer.
This person has gone to prison because, using the minimum of force, she has very rightly resisted a corrupt policeman (from a corrupt police force) acting unlawfully on behalf of a corrupt government; and, not only is it the right of all responsible and law-abiding citizens to present such resistance, it is their duty.
There's your answer.
here here
Statement by Des Dalton Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin
The imprisonment of Maura Harrington for 28 days is a shameful indictment of the political culture of the 26-County state. Maura Harrington has been imprisoned because of her fearless defence of the Irish people’s right to the ownership of their own natural resources, whilst those who have robbed and profited at the expense of the people escape with impunity and in many cases are rewarded from public monies.
Maura Harrington’s imprisonment illustrates all that is wrong with modern Ireland and the political and economic system which underpin it. The 26-County state and its institutions have once more closed ranks to punish a woman whose ‘crime’ is to adhere faithfully to the 1916 Proclamation’s declaration of “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland”.
The direction of the judge that Maura Harrington “undergo psychiatric assessment” is reminiscent of the methods employed by totalitarian regimes the world over to suppress political dissent.
Republican Sinn Féin extends our solidarity to Maura Harrington and the Shell to Sea campaign and we pledge our continued and active support.
The actions of the Gardai is just another example of the ignorant and corrupt Police force that exists on this island. Their thuggery has been allowed to become the accepted way of policing.
The dissident and protestors voice is to be silenced at any cost, while the violence and trespass of the state is to be accepted as normal behaviour?
Where in any other democratic society would the citizens tolerate this judicial arrogance?
7 stone, 4 foot 10
Scares the mighty Garda men!
These are the scenes outside Mountjoy Prison last Tuesday night when Maura Harrington arrived to commence her Prison sentence. Includes interview with Joanne Mac Donald.
Caption: Video Id: x8Ws4S4hXwc Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video
Garda instructions were not to arrest protestors at Mayo and Tara instead brutallity is used and a blind eye turned to the perpertrator .Priuate security work had in glove with the Garda inflicting serious injury ,no complaints against these injurys successfuly prosecuted.These opperational orders come from the minister himself.Now it seems a change in tactic .If they cannot wear you down emotionally.physicaly they will use the "Justice" system to subdue dissent.Many activists now have bail conditions designed to render them ineffective.Like wise trump up convictions .Our justice system needs scrutiny from outside the state.
Oh?
And who were these protestors who received "serious injury" at the hands of the Gardai?
This scandal or people receiving serious injury at the hands of the brutal police has obviously be suppressed by the Shell-compliant national media because it hasn't surfaced anywhere in the newspapers or TV.
We should be told.
Well I cant speak for Shell to Sea but you can find plenty of same on www.tarapixie.net
Solidarity!
"The scandal of people receiving serious injury at the hands of the brutal police force has obviously been supressed by the Shell -
compliant media because it hasn't surfaced anywhere in the newspapers or T.V"
That is EXACTLY the case, and I thank you for putting it so succinctly, if for all the wrong reasons. Irony isn't something you do on an
ironing board. You'd better get some lessons before you try it again.
Check it out on YouTube (Shell to Sea), then wonder why it doesn't make the big media.
Dear Editor,
I must object strongly to the over the top reaction of some
journalists, columnists, and broadcasters in recent days to the
jailing of Shell to Sea campaigner, Maura Harrington.
Whilst I have no involvement in that campaign, I have been associated
with other “green” campaigns and I know how feelings can run high at
times, especially on picket lines.
I remember protesting outside a hare-coursing event in County
Tipperary back in 1985 and the ferocious fracas that ensued when
coursing fans attacked us with ash plants and lengths of hosepipe.
Such occasions are fraught with tension and a palpable threat of
violence hovers over them.
We have seen similar heated exchanges at the Hill of Tara, where a
dedicated band of environmentalists are fighting against increasingly
impossible odds to save a precious and irreplaceable part of Ireland’s
heritage.
Likewise in County Mayo. Media commentators are perfectly entitled to
air their views on the Corrib Gas issue and to offer analysis, whether
objective, subjective, or offbeat… of the ongoing bitter dispute
between the various factions.
But what I find offensive is the spate of vitriolic no-holds-barred
attacks on Ms. Harrington, who is serving a 28-day prison sentence for
an alleged assault during one of the pickets directed against Shell.
Whatever about the rights or wrongs of the Gas Project, surely there’s
something to be said for the old advice about not kicking somebody
when they’re down? Being imprisoned for an offence motivated by your
beliefs is difficult and humiliating enough without having people on
the “outside” tearing your reputation to shreds.
Those media commentators I have in mind accuse Ms. Harrington of
having been “drunk and disorderly” and “verbally abusive” on other
occasions. One could say the same about many an otherwise fine
journalist…and indeed of quite a substantial percentage of our
population.
There have also been self-righteous media broadsides directed at some
of the people who support the Shell to Sea campaign, with special
emphasis on the alleged involvement of “Dissident Republicans”.
So what? Isn’t it better to have them holding-or even waving -placards
in North Mayo, than shooting or bombing their way across Northern
Ireland?
I say: fair play to Ms. Harrington and her colleagues for helping to
keep these frustrated ideologues out of trouble!
By all means let’s debate the Corrib Gas issue fully and with due
vigour…but I urge a toning down on compassionate grounds of these
personalised attacks on a woman who is already paying her alleged debt
to society …whether one approves of her actions or not.
Thanking you,
John Fitzgerald
Its amazing that protestors will tie up such garda resources in such a busy area engaging in scuffles with the police. The police do not want to be there but have to be as it is their job to provide securty of the state, ensuring a convited criminal is brought to prison obviously falls under that category.
Why did a protestor get close enough to a garda to recieve an elbow. If people engage in scuffles obviously people are going to get injured.
As for trying to make a complaint at the scene, why noy just do it at the ombudsmans office the next day.
Many people believe that the jailing of MAURA HARRINGTONis a "miscarriage of justice".Video footage of the event which would have placed her accuser elsewhere at the time of the alleged incident was not allowed in evidence.Sadly complaints to the OMBUDSMAN regarding the CORRIB PROTEST are not investigated fairly.So until the full story of the brutality inflicted on protestors finally is told and IT WILL BE TOLD,until the Rotten deal between the GOVT and the OIL& GAS COMPANIES is EXPOSED we will see more and more PEOPLE OF CONSCIENCE jailed.
Its amazing that protestors will tie up such garda resources in such a busy area engaging in scuffles with the police.
Think again on that its the State and their multinational friend $hell/Topaz who are tying up the cops resources, the rotten deal was done by a F/Fail politician none of the protesters had anything to do with that, because if they had the gas would still belong to the irish people.
The police do not want to be there but have to be as it is their job to provide securty of the state, ensuring a convited criminal is brought to prison obviously falls under that category.
Oh yes they do want to be there, the overtime, the subsistance allowance, the travel allowance, the accomodation allowance, etc, it all adds up,
ensuring a convited criminal is brought to prison obviously falls under that category.
The cowards way of course is and the only way that cowards know how is to kick them when they are down I have seen it myself does not suprise me one bit about the cops thugery.
Why did a protestor get close enough to a garda to recieve an elbow. If people engage in scuffles obviously people are going to get injured.
Receive an elbow how rich, and how ridicilious do not watch utube the evidence is all there for a later date, and its trough the cops incompetence that proper fencing is not in place, it it was the protesters would not be able to get near the cop line.
As for trying to make a complaint at the scene, why noy just do it at the ombudsmans office the next day.
You are in a state of denial or totaly out of touch,the ombudsmans office is a hive of x supers, and x chief supers, the office is run by an x supers son.
Cop on Cop.
Good letter in the Times today:
http://www.irishtimes.com/letters/index.html#1224243066337
It certainly was. For anyone writing letters to the papers, they have a better chance of being published if they're short.
Ádh mhór, a Mháire,
Táimid ag tacú leat!
Adelaide, An Astráil
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