Joe Higgins statement on RTS

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday May 08, 2002 16:16 by Blisset

Press Statement - 8th May 2002

Garda Attack on Protest Follows Familiar Pattern in E.U. Call on Minister for Justice to Disclose Content of E.U. Justice Ministers’ Discussions Regarding Anti-Globalisation Movement Joe Higgins T.D. The Socialist Party

The horrific scenes witnessed on Monday evening in Dublin, with members of the Garda provoking and viciously attacking protesters, followers a familiar recent pattern within the E.U.

From personal observation of the huge protests around the E.U. Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2001, I concluded that there was a deliberate policy of provocation by the Swedish police and recorded my observations during Taoiseach’s Question Time in the Dáil. The police first provoked violence and then quite brutally attacked demonstrators. Similar situations developed in Genoa and later in Brussels.

The Anti-Globalisation movement has garnered huge support among European youth and sections of the trade union movement. This has been discussed at meetings of E.U. Justice Ministers.

I call upon the Minister for Justice to state the content of these discussions. In particular, I ask him to say whether a policy of repression of this movement has been tacitly agreed among the E.U. Ministers and whether this was a factor in the Garda response on Monday evening.

Certainly, the dismissal by the Taoiseach of my personal observations in the Dáil point to a policy of complicity in repression against a growing movement of opposition to capitalist globalisation and multi-national domination of our world.

For further information, contact Joe Higgins T.D. at telephone: (01) 618 3038