Will Gardai be allowed to shoot protesters?

dublin | summit mobilisations | press release Thursday April 22, 2004 11:58 by Dublin Grassroots Network

Protesters seek clarification on Mayday powers for police and army

Mayday protest organisers have called for
clarification on police and army powers for the Mayday
weekend.

Huge disruption is to be caused to Dublin by the EU
ministers' Dublin Castle photocall, which entails the
closing of Dame Street; and the Farmleigh banquet, for
which Europe's largest city park is to be sealed off
by seven miles of razor-wire, water-cannons, soldiers
and armed gardai.

“Yet on what grounds and on whose orders are these
extreme measures being considered?” asked Liz Curry of
the Dublin Grassroots Network.

Newspaper reports suggest that other city centre
streets may be closed to prevent large gatherings of
protestors.

Curry asked: “Do we not have the democratic right to
protest and register dissent with an EU that is
becoming increasingly militarised and undemocratic?
This lack of democracy is becoming evident in the
run-up to Mayday as event organisers are harassed and
the city is being turned into a police state with
armed gardai on the streets next week. This inevitably
creates a climate of intimidation and tension, for the
public and gardai alike.

“There's been concern expressed in the media about a
‘padded bloc’, protestors who wear padding to prevent
injury and to protect other protestors from possible
minority police violence, yet there has been no
definite information on what offensive weapons the
Gardai may use, or under what circumstances.”

Why the secrecy?

“Surely in a democratic society the public has a right
to know what measures are being taken to protect their
leaders, who are meeting behind razor-wire out of fear
of their own citizens.”

The Dublin Grassroots Network asks:
- What are the rules of engagement for gardai and the
army?
- What special powers will the gardai or army receive
and on whose orders?
- What is the legal basis for bringing the army onto
the streets and arming the gardai?
- What power of arrests do the soldiers have?
- For what acts of protest can members of the public
be arrested/batoned/shot?
- Has force been authorised to remove peaceful
protestors from the streets?
- Are ad-hoc detention centres planned and if so on
what legal basis?
- How will the rights of those detained be protected?
Will there be legal observers, legal aid etc?
- What precautions are being put in place to avoid a
re-enactment of
garda violence at the May 2002 street party?
- What streets or bridges are to be closed on May 1st?

The Mayday events are not aimed at the gardai but at
the EU ministers themselves and their push for
militarisation, racist immigration policy,
privatisation and the trade "liberalisation" that
results in the devastation of developing world
economies and increasing social exclusion in the
developed world.

Only shareholders can benefit from these neoliberal
policies which do not represent the wishes of the
majority of people in Ireland, in the EU and
worldwide. We are "bringing the noise" to Farmleigh
because it is the only way our representatives will
hear us. We are doing this peacefully and all are
welcome to join us. How far away from our
representatives will we be kept? Why are the gardai
being asked to "protect" EU leaders against their own
citizens?

We appeal to the public and to Amnesty International
and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to support
the democratic right to protest in this country.

All of the protests and Mayday events planned are
peaceful.

The schedule of events is public, see:
http://struggle.ws/eufortress

... unlike the plans of the Minister for Justice and
the Gardai who have stated that they will not release
any information to the public until next week.

See you on Mayday weekend.

For more information, including Mayday event plans,
see:
www.struggle.ws/eufortress