By Following on from a demonstrarion of public lockdown fatigue protest on Saturday last n our capital city, Dublin Ireland. There has been a manhunt for an individual who displayed what will quite possibly be charged as, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with intent to cause bodily harm, assault & gbh and even possible to see attempted murder too. The individual at the time of this writing is reported to have been located and is under arrest.
There are perhaps 5 different videos that I have seen of the protest that was underway last Saturday. A mixture of emotions were felt at my time of viewing. Some were of a happy feeling that people were actually willing to do something about the sanctions that have been handed down to the public by our government officials throughout this pandemic of covid-19 here in Ireland. Another feeling was a contradictory type of sentiment, I felt that making noise in the streets was. not the right way to be heard and the wrong process to take an action of revolutionary standing. I could see from the footage the crowd was too small to make the statement needed. I could also see that things were quite peaceful other than some typical “protest march” chanting.
Then the videos, horrific in nature started to flow across social media. Our very own pedestrian street of Grafton street was in a frenzy. People were dispersing rapidly and our police force were running into the crowd, kicking people to the ground and swinging batons at members of the public. People were running away from the police and others ran towards the police blockade, though not to cause any more violence, to simply get out of the path of the swinging batons.
The police in Ireland are called “An Garda” or “Gardai” which is plural. Garda are our police force and on the whole do not carry weapons such as guns. Pepper spray and a baton are their weapons of defence to bring about order or restore order when carrying out their duties. The baton is like a night stick type truncheon.
The weapon being used by one particular person among the crowd of peaceful demonstrators was fireworks. During the video it was very clear to see a firework being aimed directly into the face of An Garda and it was lit and fired into the line of the Garda stronghold. An Garda were using a street corner to maintain a line, the adjacent steeet also had a mass of protestor and so I can only guess that this was somewhat a strategy to avoid the crowds coming together to form an even larger crowd. There were hecklers from the crowd shouting directly into the face of the police force. It also appeared eveident that there were words being exchanged from both sides of the barricade. The firework being used appeared to be a repeating roman candle type firework which is normally placed into the ground and then when lit it emits coloured fire balls. Often 8 or 10 or sometimes up to 20 fire ball shots. These would often reach a height of maybe 15 to 20 feet in the air, sometimes when they are not so good they may not rise too high. My reason to explain this is so as not to mislead you in the idea of an explosive rocket type firework that would burn a man’s head off. Though very dangerous if it were to come in contact with a naked eye or directly to your skin or hair.
The demonstration has caused quite the debate and continued the debate about lockdown and the course of action the government of Ireland has been taking in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic. Many have chimed in across social media platforms to condemn the march of protestors that took place last Saturday. Many others supporting the protestors as they express overwhelming fatigue from lockdowns and to note all this has taken place at a time when the entire country of Ireland enters into it’s second year of covid-19 lockdowns. 12 full months of covid 19 has just passed and we are entering into year 2.
My take on it is this,
Ireland a democraric society and as a country is a Republic.
The use of weapons to fire upon the police force cannot be taken lightly. There has never been any support for violence against An Garda on the island nation of Ireland. Any youth or member of society who thinks this kind of behavior is acceptable is in my opinion, is not a welcome member to Irish society. By the same token, I do accept that people have a right to express their dissatisfied opinion with government lockdowns and restrictions in place due to covid-19 pandemic. The right to carry out a denonstrarion is part of the civil liberties that exist in the country of Ireland.
Alongside my feeling of disgust at seeing these viral videos of such blatant disregard for the authorities has been a feeling of utter disgust and shame to see members of our police force “An Garda” wielding batons at members of the public. There is nor has ever been an occasion where this kind of “police brutality” has been called for. And to clarify there is no justification or rationale that can be entered into here to bring about any justification of professionalism used by An Garda during last Saturdays demonstration.
To separate and co join the issues at hand as displayed on Grafton street, Dublin last Saturday.
- A thug who thought it fitting to fire fireworks into the face of An Garda ~ shameful and deserves punishment to the full extent of the law.
- The use of brutal force and assaults on members of the public by our “trained police force” An Garda, deserves full investigation and suspension from position without pay and full investigation is required and called for immediately.
The use of such force by An Garda is inexcusable to the same extent that the use of a weapon fired upon An Garda is.
The minister, junior minister for justice and all relevant political bodies need step up and take the matter very seriously and that such violence need be stamped out from Irish society immediately.
I fear that the events of last Saturday are being used to fuel a stronger Garda presence and an unjustifiable reasoning to make matters worse. The nation is already very tired from lockdowns and poor government decisions in the face of covid-19 pandemic. At some point in the time the ministers must wake up and realise, it is the public who they represent and not just some of the public but all of the public, an entire nation.
I encourage your debate and thoughts on the matter. Comment below
@TWOsonsTOOmany
A.McNallyauthor.com 