Leafleting Ban?

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday May 26, 2005 15:10

by Kieran O'Sullivan - IAWM

kieran.osullivan at ireland dot com

Is there a leafleting bin in dublin?

Anti War Activist prevented from handing out leaflets on Grafton St

On Saturday 21st May I was handing out leaflets on Grafton St to advertise a meeting organised by the Irish Anti-War Movement. I was approached by the litter warden and asked to stop handing out leaflets, on the pretext that they were being thrown on the ground by people although I did not see any on the ground.

Given that they were political leaflets and not commercial I pointed out that I had a right to organise political meetings. I also pointed out that the litter warden was not prosecuting any of the fast food outlets on Grafton St for the amount of litter that they were generating. At this point the litter warden said that he was going to get the guards involved.

The guards arrived about five minutes later and confiscated the leaflets. They told me that if I wanted them back. I would have to go to Pearse St Garda station and collect them. I was told that if I didn’t stop handing out the leaflets I would be arrested, no other reason was given as to why I couldn’t hand out the leaflets.

This event is not an isolated incident over the past two years Anti-War activists have been subject to this type of harassment.

1 Posters advertising meetings and protests have been torn down.

2 The stop Bush campaign registered as a group with a third party interest in the local elections last year. We had the support of the Greens, Sinn Fein, Labour, Socialist and Socialist Workers party. Dublin city council still ripped down our posters.

3 The BCI banned radio advertisements for a Gig leading up to the Bush protests in June last year because they said that it was political. Which is strange because our posters were ripped down because they were not political.

I have written to The ICCL and to all 53 cllrs complaining abou this. If anyone has similar experiences could you mail me on treasurer@irishantiwar.org