PROTEST marches and demonstrations have always been with us. There are times, when people feel sufficiently aggrieved, and they need to take to the streets to let off some steam.
That’s fair enough, and everyone has the right to take part in a lawful protest.
I was involved in policing a few of these during my service in An Garda Siochana and most of them went off without a hitch because there was usually engagement with the organisers beforehand.
It suited both sides to ensure demonstrations were well marshalled, trouble-free, and caused as little disruption to the general public as possible.
The one notable exception was the march to the British Embassy in Dublin in 1981 in support of the H-Block hunger strikers, which turned into a riot. The violence that erupted that day resulted in mor than 200 people being injured, hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage caused, and dozens of arrests - but that was an exceptional event.
The French might be a bit extreme when it comes to demonstrating but, in the UK, where they are normally more sedate, public expressions of anger have taken another twist in recent years.
Environmental protestors there are using more disruptive actions such as gluing themselves to motorways to cause maximum inconvenience to commuters. Or sticking their hands to fixed objects, chaining themselves to goal posts and tennis nets, and defacing works of art to gain attention.
Just Stop Oil protesters threw orange paint over a garden display at the Chelsea Flower Show in London recently, and in Sheffield during the World Snooker Championships, protesters from the same group threw orange paint over a snooker table, disrupting the day’s play.
This kind of destructive nonsense isn’t confined to the UK, and if the authorities here don’t take action, we could see a lot more of it in this jurisdiction, particularly when it comes to immigration issues.
I saw a video on social media of a truck attempting to deliver furniture to an asylum centre in Santry in Dublin. There was a barrier at the entrance to the facility and a few men were sitting on chairs next to it, blocking the entrance.
They refused to allow the lorry to travel beyond the barrier, so the delivery guys had to offload the goods outside on the roadway and carry them into the property while two gardaí looked on.
I don’t blame the two gardaí for not getting involved. They were acting on instructions from their superiors, who were presumably taking orders from Garda Headquarters, but the optics weren’t great.
Gardaí have so far relied on a soft approach when dealing with anti-migrant protests, but it’s time for them to up the ante.
No vigilante group should be allowed to assume the authority to block a public road and deny access to members of the public. In this case, workers were prevented from carrying out a delivery on behalf of their employer, and as a consequence, their job was made more difficult.
There was a similar incident in Clare when demonstrators again blocked access to a public roadway. In some cases, they wore balaclavas and checked identification and questioned drivers as to where they were going and what their business was.
This kind of activity seems to be growing in popularity and the activists justify their behaviour by claiming the right to protest peacefully.
There is a big difference though between having a peaceful protest and engaging in behaviour which could be viewed as violent and intimidating.
In Dublin, asylum-seekers were intimidated out of a makeshift street camp before it was set on fire. The following day, a mob descended on a nearby asylum-seeker camp and damaged and kicked at tents and hurled abuse at the people living in them.
We have all seen videos of gardaí being shouted and cursed at, provoked and abused by protesters, and there is a certain cohort, particularly the far-right activists, who push this to the limit.
They wrap the Irish tricolour around their shoulders like a Superman cape, arm themselves with a camera phone, and proudly claim to be the defenders of the Nation.
They believe they have a large following, but I seriously doubt that. They certainly don’t represent me or, I suspect, the vast majority of fair-minded people, so why are they getting away with it?
Garda management seem to think that by enforcing the Public Order Act, they will play into the hands of the far-right. But surely by giving them a free hand to cause a public nuisance, this is exactly what they’re doing, and offenders are becoming more emboldened by the lack of a lawful response.
The Policing Authority has “totally condemned” the escalation of protests from lawful demonstrations to “violence and intimidation” of vulnerable people, communities and gardaí, and has sought to discuss the worsening situation with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and his senior team.
The general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Antoinette Cunningham, has called for “proper training” and resourcing to deal with the protests. They also want to meet with the Garda Commissioner as a matter of urgency.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said protests outside of premises earmarked to accommodate refugees are “wrong” and go against “our culture and understanding of being Irish people”.
Justice Minister Simon Harris told the Dáil he has been in contact with Garda Commissioner Harris, who said gardaí are mindful of its response to the threat posed by the far right, and added “We should not overstate it, but we cannot and should not tolerate it.”
Everyone appears to be in agreement that this type of behaviour is unacceptable, so what are we waiting for?
The Public Order Act is there for a reason. Take these offenders off the streets and into the court rooms and let justice take its course.
Enough is enough.
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