DUBLIN POLICE USE
CHEMICAL WEAPON
ON PROTESTERS:
A large force of
Police outside the Irish Parliament, Dáil Éireann, including mounted officers,
dog units and numbers in riot gear blocked the street against about 1,000
protesters who had gathered in the street opposite the main gate at the start
of the Parliament’s autumn session to protest against the economic austerity
policies of the current Government dictated by the EU Brussels bureaucracy and
the IMF.
The protest was
peaceful and speeches were being made by representatives of a large number of
civic groups when the crowd increased and some pressure occurred against the
crowd barriers erected by the Police. Police reacted savagely with batons and a
chemical weapon –pepper spray- in a totally unnecessary and unjustified manner.
There was no threat either to them, who were gathered in large numbers, or the
Parliament, as the Main Gate was closed and blockaded by Police.
Three people were
arrested, three were injured and brought to hospital.
Police remove protester outside Irish Parliament in Dublin, Wednesday, 18 September 2013.
This disgraceful
and shameful aggression is typical of Police reaction in all western countries
against peaceful protest in the current economic crisis of capitalism, which
apparently is regarded as intolerable despite legal protections in most
democratic countries. The hypocrites who condemn use of chemical weapons "against their own people" by foreign countries have no compunction in using such weapons "against their own people" to suppress peaceful protest and intimidate opposition to their vicious austerity policies across the Western "democratic" world.
The public should not tolerate these abridgements of
their rights by police and the politicians who give them their orders from
their office armchairs.
Protesters halt traffic in Central Dublin, Wednesday, 18 September 2013.
Nevertheless, the
Police were caught off-guard as they concentrated their numbers at the
Parliament gate about 500 protesters turned up in Dublin’s main street- O’Connell-
and succeed in bringing the evening rush-hour traffic to a halt in all
directions by occupying O’Connell Bridge.
All traffic up
and down the Liffey quays - as well as that moving north and south between
d’Olier Street and O’Connell Street - was blocked by individuals who either sat
or stood in the centre of the road. Several double-decker buses were marooned
on the bridge and passengers had to disembark and find alternate ways to
reach their destinations. Protesters carried posters and banners calling for
bankers to be jailed while there were chants to “take back our city”. At one
point, one of the protestors with a megaphone directed the others to form
single-file lines across the length and breadth of O’Connell Bridge in order to
maximise the challenge for Police to disperse them.
Among the groups
protesting were Anti-Eviction Ireland, Pensioners Against Cuts, Irish
Republican Voice and the People’s Assembly, which consists of trade union,
civil society and political organisations.
No comments:
Post a Comment