Student Protest, Department of Finance and the Actions of the Gardaí

Firsthand account of what happened at the Student Protest.

I have never posted anything online, but i felt this needed to be said.

On the 3rd of November students from across our island came together to march through the streets of Dublin, in protest against the proposed doubling of costs for college fees. It was estimated that 25,000 attended the march, armed with nothing more than placards and their voices. Although a miserable day weather wise, there was a positive feeling in the air. 25,000 people standing side by side sharing the same idea could create nothing less. The march got underway at around 2.00 p.m., starting at Parnell Square and initially looking like some sort of Mardi Gras parade, filled with colour, music and smiling faces, but as students filed out into O’Connell Street, a worrying number of Gardaí appeared. Although students marched peacefully, I viewed numerous Gardaí push and shove students on to pavements claiming they were blocking traffic and being a nuisance, despite quite a few motorists actually stopping and talking to students about what was going on. They would call this keeping the peace; I on the other hand would call it unnecessary force, because had one of us questioned their need to commit minor assault, we would have undoubtedly been carted away in the back of one of the many ‘paddy wagons’ situated across the city.

As we reached Merrion Square we could already hear the heads of the student union giving their speeches from a stage located across the street from the Government Buildings. Following what seemed like an age of standing in the rain listening to blurred speeches through speakers, many students began dispersing and quite a number of them questioning ‘was that it?’ I for one felt the effort had been in vain. A gathering of this size simply marching to a certain point just to stand there and listen to a few future politicians go on about how they know how this would effect the numbers of people attending college and that it wasn’t fair on students of lower socio-economic backgrounds. Things we already knew being spouted from faces that in the future will be sitting in the place of those situated 50 yards across the street behind them. If those of working class backgrounds were to be seriously affected by this, why were they not represented here? Yet again an upper middle class drone thinking they know what is good for all of us, simply to disguise the fact that their course of action for organizing such an event is just another notch on a portfolio for the position of ‘yes man’ for a political party mammy and daddy vote for in the coming years. Call me cynical, but I’ve seen this sort of thing too many times to buy into the ‘sincerity’ of it all.

Myself and those in my company then decided we had had enough. Since we were told our bus would be somewhere round Merrion Square, we went to look for it, but got side tracked and ended up near the Department of Finance where we heard students had gathered to stage another protest. To me this seemed like a better course of action, than standing in the rain listening to likes of Gary Redmond with his unconvincing rhetoric. Within minutes Gardaí had the crowd surrounded and those attempting to enter the Department of Finance were subsequently punched and kicked by uniformed thugs, whom I would also like to point out had their badge numbers covered. From the instance this was spotted we knew immediately a heavy handed ordeal was to ensue. Despite the reporting’s of the Fianna Faíl propaganda machine that is RTÉ, the Socialist Workers Party and éirígí were present, but the majority of the protesters in the area were students, hence the abundance of yellow t-shirts, that were handed out by students unions, clearly visible and making up most of the numbers there. While the media attempted to taint the presence of these political parties, for me it showed a commitment made by their members to stand along side their brothers and sisters for a cause the whole country should be backing.

And as for the assertion that Gardaí were attacked by ‘dissident republicans,’ well sure who else would they blame? It was always going to be the template for news headlines, ‘dissident republicans’ or ‘typical, destructive students,’ oh how original of the Irish media. Gardaí were not attacked, quite the contrary, protesters were, for lack of a better word, battered by the official gang of Ireland. Protesters from the back of the crowd proceeded to throw eggs and placards at the Gardaí in retaliation for their disgraceful behaviour, but the media described these as ‘missiles,’ once again giving the general public the connotations that the Gardaí were attacked by these heinous bogeymen that lie in the shadows awaiting their chance to hi-jack whatever protest they can, to cause chaos and destruction. While this was going on the windows of the Department of Finance were filled with government minions, who proceeded to laugh, wave and taunt the people on the street. It was around this time the crowd realised this was a situation they were never going to come out of in one piece. The crowd then began organising a sit down protest; due in part to the brutality of the Gardaí, standing on the street seemed like a punishable offense. I myself was attacked by a baton and was left dazed and bloody with a head wound. The violence towards the crowd didn’t stop there, the Garda horses walked all over people while the riot squad geared up to come in and ‘clean the street.’ And once the riot squad were deployed everyone and anyone was a target. The big brave men of the riot squad then proceeded to bring in attack dogs to snap at bleeding and scared faces. Men were beaten on the ground, women were dragged by the hair (and in one case left unconscious) and all because they sat down and did exactly what the Gardaí presumed they wouldn’t do; protest peacefully.

All you need to do is look at the students in England who occupied the Tory HQ and the actions of the Metropolitan Police, then compare them with the events that occurred in our own country. Like it or not we’re living in a police state, with politicians who our using us to their advantage and when we do stand up to it, we’re getting beaten down. How the Union of Students in Ireland can condemn the actions of their fellow students is beyond me, they protested peacefully in an area they felt their voices would make a difference. Although the protest at the Department of Finance lacked organization, I feel it made a clear statement to government that we are not happy. The worst is yet to come for us and it’s about time our actions spoke louder than our words.