Keep Death Off Our Streets ... And The Guards On Their Toes
dublin |
housing |
feature 
Sunday November 27, 2005 13:47
by Elaine
Street Seen's Magical Mystery Protest
From the newswire:
Street Seen* sure know how to show a crowd a good time. In the space of three hours we had; a rally with music; two occupations; and a magical mystery protest march. All to highlight the growing number of people dying on our streets for the want of a home. Joan Collins, John Boorman and some of Kila turned up to show support. A small, but perfectly formed, crowd were entertained by singers, musicians and the Happy City Samba Band. The well worn Kila bodhran made an appearance too.
The first occupation was in the old Colaiste Mhuire building on Parnell Square, where banners were hung from the windows. The first guards to arrive were the undercover / unmarked car variety. Uniforms arrived later but meanwhile the two from the first car walked through the crowd asking 'who's in charge?' While they practiced their interrorgation skills, those who were in the building made good their escape. Reinforced - the large group of guards made their way into the building but neglected to leave a man on the door. The door, closed firmly in the faces of the protestors, proved too much of a temptation for some. The cry went up ' anyone got a padlock?'. Surprisingly, someone had and it was employed on the door. The guards were now locked in. More reinforcements arrived and a bolt cutters the size of my leg was used to free them from the prison of their own making.
*Editorial note:The occupations were not organised by Street Seen, neither was the magical mystery tour. They were organised by concerned people and members of the homeless community and not directly by Street Seen. This article was submitted by regular contributer Elaine and is her personal reflection on the day's events.
Previous Indymedia.ie Coverage
"Bertie, Where's Our Houses?"
Housing protest meeting discuss use of "containers" to house the homeless
Homeless Propose Motion At Dublin City Council
Interview:
Tommy
When the crowd tired of the guards, like a kitten tires of a ball of yarn, it was decided to go for a walk. Heading down Parnell Square West we changed direction and headed back up by the previously occupied building and along the north side of the square. Taking our place in the heavy evening traffic we marched the usual route down to O'Connell Street. In a fit of spontaneity the group took a sharp left, down Cathal Brugha Street, and seeing a garda car coming out of a laneway leading to Cathedral Street decided it was an omen and took the turn for the laneway. The garda car had to do a u-turn to keep following but by the time it had done so, the lane was cluttered with makeshift barricades. O'Connell Street and proudly we marched under Larkin's statue, closely followed by yet more guards. A quick u-turn and we were heading back towards the Square. The guards mobilised quickly, cutting accross the traffic island - so we did it again and headed towards O'Connell Bridge. Confusion and much laughter... and then we saw Supermacs. A sore point for many homeless people as they (Supermacs) are quite willing to sell them food but won't allow them to sit in the restaurant to eat. The occupation was on and in we went. The banner unfurled - one of the homeless men addressed the 'diners' , infroming them of the reason why we gave them all dyspepsia. (The heartburn we blame on the food.) Then we all piled into the streets, giddy as schoolgirls and having bought nothing. Mingling with the Christmas shoppers, the crowd dissipated and the guards were left guarding an empty Supermacs.
The Homeless are Revolting - Join Them.
Joan Collins, Jon Glackin And Mark Grehan
Mark Grehan, Jon Glackin And John Boorman
Faster Than The Speed Of My Camera - Happy Samba Band
Hey Mister, Do You Know You're Being Filmed? - You Sing It Love And I'll Hum Along
Comments (25 of 25)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25..was in the old Colaiste Mhuire building on Parnell Square, where banners were hung from the windows. The first guards to arrive were the undercover / unmarked car variety. Uniforms arrived later but meanwhile the two from the first car walked through the crowd asking 'who's in charge?' While they practiced their interrorgation skills, those who were in the building made good their escape. Reinforced - the large group of guards made their way into the building but neglected to leave a man on the door. The door, closed firmly in the faces of the protestors, proved too much of a temptation for some. The cry went up ' anyone got a padlock?'. Surprisingly, someone had and it was employed on the door. The guards were now locked in. More reinforcements arrived and a bolt cutters the size of my leg was used to free them from the prison of their own making.
Nothing Like A Bit Of Kila To Cheer You Up - Occupation Music
First Banner Goes Up
Nothing Makes A House A Home Like A Well Dressed Window
Little Baby Padlock - Everybody Say Aaaahhh
Who Let The Guards Out? - Yer Man With The Huge Bolt Cutters
When the crowd tired of the guards, like a kitten tires of a ball of yarn, it was decided to go for a walk. Heading down Parnell Square West we changed direction and headed back up by the previously occupied building and along the north side of the square. Taking our place in the heavy evening traffic we marched the usual route down to O'Connell Street. In a fit of spontaneity the group took a sharp left, down Cathal Brugha Street, and seeing a garda car coming out of a laneway leading to Cathedral Street decided it was an omen and took the turn for the laneway. The garda car had to do a u-turn to keep following but by the time it had done so, the lane was cluttered with makeshift barricades. O'Connell Street and proudly we marched under Larkin's statue, closely followed by yet more guards. A quick u-turn and we were heading back towards the Square. The guards mobilised quickly, cutting accross the traffic island - so we did it again and headed towards O'Connell Bridge. Confusion and much laughter... and then we saw Supermacs. A sore point for many homeless people as they (Supermacs) are quite willing to sell them food but won't allow them to sit in the restaurant to eat. The occupation was on and in we went. The banner unfurled - one of the homeless men addressed the 'diners' , infroming them of the reason why we gave them all dyspepsia. (The heartburn we blame on the food.) Then we all piled into the streets, giddy as schoolgirls and having bought nothing. Mingling with the Christmas shoppers, the crowd dissipated and the guards were left guarding an empty Supermacs.
The Homeless are Revolting - Join Them.
The March Heads Off, Straight Into Rush Hour Traffic - It Was Bumper To Protestor
The Guards, Following The March Down A Side Street, Discover Obstacles In Their Path
Unofficial Road Block - Could You Step Out Of The Vehicle And Blow Into This?
Change Of Plan Lads - We're Going The Other Way
Want Fries With That Protest? - Supermacs Gets Occupied
what a day, and not one person injured r arrested.. all the garda were quickly whisked away on a call to river island on grafton st where 2 armd men were holding up the cash room. the gaurd in the Korn hoodie was the laughing stock of the garda at the homeless rally and the robbery... ahh well.
good day. hope to see it again.
the homeless are still revolting
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72641
video link to footage of yesterdays protest, dial up and broadband versions......rough edit!!!
unfortunately this is about the most serious of issues:
NO MORE DEATH ON THE STREETS OF DUBLIN
SUPPORT THE HOMELESS REVOLT
4 days, 2 more deaths- 1 small report of first death in sun/ star
no report of last nights death
only 1 image on sunday tribune of last nights action
homeless make home for 6 days, primetime enter squat to interview them, supporters gather, john boorman director of "the general" enters squat, cops come, cops locked up in squat, 60 supporters + 20 cops including undercover and kornman, random city stroll, barricades pulled to block city streets ( a first for recent irish activism??)
and none of this gets into the mainstream papers
the homeless lads know they will win, thats the toughest bit- the rest just takes time
well done to all
1- audio summary before cops being locked
up 3.12mins
http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/detective.wav
the plain clothes detective was reluctant to say anything
2- cops freed from locked up squat in dublin-6.02 mins
http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/squat_and_cops.wav
audio from the heated up part of action, cops just being freed, kila bodhran player ronan o'snodaigh and friend tap away in the backround, homeless people strongly express their feelings to the cops after attempted eviction back onto the cold streets where 2 more peole have DIED in the last 4 days
great action, more of it, never seen so many people laughing and loving an action so much before, the homeless have much to teach us, great lads, last night can only prove to be an event to inspire more and more to this action-
theres about 2000 homeless in dublin and there are a lot who support this revolt.
that building is big enough to house a little army
no more death on our streets - occupy and resist
cops locked inside city squat
cops locked in and looking out
backup arrives
big tool to release a load of........
as one of the lads said "the super (intendant) wont be happy, they'll be gettin' some bollickin' "
it all seems a little like a top monty python sketch - cops go in one door, lads come out second door, lock on, cops in, lads out; a lot of laughing
freed cops
freedom at last
kornykop
at first the cops said we were not allowed to walk with a banner, nonsense, he then said we must wait for the green man to cross the road, we did, we got to the other side, we took over the street, we went back, we took o'connell st, we laughed,
a fine way to spend a saturday evening in winter
2 dead in 3 days, how many more till the mainstream media highlight this, how many more actions, how much more till the government listen to this group, more and more will support them.
do something now.
2 deaths in paris led to a lot of trouble on the streets, why?
becuase the government were not doing enough to help those that need it.
The Suburbs Are Ticking... Why The Nihilism Of The Paris Riots Is Not A Political "Insurrection"
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72857
2005 civil unrest in France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_civil_unrest_in_France
the banner is unrolled - THE HOMELESS ARE REVOLTING
to the streets
o'connell street is taken in initial stages of homeless revolt
2 dead in 3 days - do something now
Why did the video skip the footage of the blockades down the lane????
Someone saw him filming it....
By the way Great Day!!!
Sorry Garda, I don't have any such footage. I'm afraid you will have to do some detective work to identify those involved in the events in the laneway in question.
Great action guys. more more more!
Brilliant work, and again excellent coverage and updates on Indymedia. D
Well done one and all, wish I had have been there (living abroad unfortunatly). Great the way ye made the idiot gardai look like even bigger eejits, that padlock manouver was priceless, Im off to continue laughing...MORE OF IT!
A couple of Street Seen activists will be on todays Joe Duffy show RTE 1@ 1.45pm.
To contact the show, call 1850 715 815 (ROI CallSave) or 0800 614 616 (NI Freephone).
'Twas my first taste of torture.
Maith an fir is mná! Beir Bua!
Amazing isn't it how some people die with flags, others with horses and plumes, others with their families and others just go to God like the little black sheep they are.
Coz God was a black sheep.
(*) wee - tip
next time you come across a door like the one above with the "little padlock" knock out the combination lock too, but _carefully_ you can learn a lot from them on bored evenings, and once you get 'em open they're user serviceable.
__________________________________________________________
This weekend to coincide with the big "mafia EU arab conference" in Barcelona the housing activists set up a shanty town to "fight speculation" near the parliament of Catalonia which is located in the park. Its part of the latest round of struggle against evictions of occupied spaces and for the "supposed" right to housing of the citizens of Barcelona and by implication everywhere else to a home.
CSO Makabra which is known to some in Dublin is up for eviction all 8000metres squared of it, at a fundraising cabaret there last night. Anyway the "shanty town" was abandoned despite holding off police attempts to clear it away on Friday to Saturday night and was finally abandoned due to the extreme cold. Many of the acitivists I spoke to yesterday got quite sick, lost their voices stuff like that. Yet still we attempted to "nail" oru complaints to the door of the Catalan parliament just after noon yesterday after the disappointing protest "against the Mediterranean of terror and capital". Needless to say nailing ones thesis on such doors is more difficult in the time of "luther blisset" than it was in the time of "martin luther". Sadly, the police put us off. It might have been the awacs hovering above too...
For those interested in the campaign's resolutions here's a pdf (in castillian)
http://barcelona.indymedia.org/usermedia/application/9/Presentación_y_Carta_cast.pdf
Basically following on from last year's success in litigating against the Council for not upholding the rights of the city's citizens to a home, the assemblies are still [[[¿what is the golden word?]]]
RESISTING.
more info here
http://www.coordinadoraraval.org/
and herein catalan
http://mobbingbcn.blogspot.com/
I counsel those in Ireland to follow more attentively this type of process and that in London at the moment rather than Italy (which I was told yesterday is still "nihilistic").
Bring in the other sectors of the homeless, dispossessed, precariously housed, transiently housed, poorly housed, _and_ those housed in "waiting sites" (pre-speculation). We need to work to tackling the problems of the "free-market" mortgage system.
& you know something? We'll do it. _in time_
we have the thesis, we just need the door.
As I understand it, for a member of the force to be in a public place in uniform without their cap is a breach of Garda procedures punishable by disciplinary action. It would be interesting to note if either of the two Garda pictured above "improperly attired" will face any disciplinary action, or will their superiors turn a blind eye in the same way that D.C.C are turning a blind eye to the deaths on the streets and the deaths waiting to happen in unsaafe hostels in the city.
As a famous judge recently stated "I await with bated breath"
did "community Garda - policing expert - store street Al" get locked in?
He seems to have disappered since getting a bit of stick from people involved in the Wheelock case. He's disappeared back into the ether.
At the Dáil, Kildare street,
Wednesday 30th November 1 o’clock
Over the course of the last couple of months Street Seen, a campaigning anti poverty newspaper, has been gathering signatures in support of their demand to the government to hand over the proceeds of the sale of the UCD veterinary site in Ballsbridge to Dublin City Council for the purpose of eradicating homelessness in the capital. The support from the public for this demand has been massive, with 20,000 people having added their names to the petition. The sale of this site takes place on the same day that Street Seen will be handing their petition into the Taoiseach’s office. The petitions will be handed in at 1 o’clock at the front entrance of the Dáil
Mark Grehan a spokesperson for Street Seen
“The level of support from the public has been incredible. 20,000 people in Dublin have joined in our demand for the government to hand over the proceeds of the sale to Dublin City Council to eradicate homelessness. This site is valued at over 100 million euros. That money is desperately needed in the fight against homelessness. Homelessness is a social problem that requires a political solution, and most importantly the political will to implement the solution. To date the government has not shown the political will. Handing over the proceeds of the sale would send a signal to the homeless community that the government is finally beginning to seriously address this issue.”
Tommy (24 years of age) a member of the homeless community
“The government has not been addressing our needs properly. We have been constantly ignored by the government. The government should hand over the proceeds of the sale to the Council as we are extremely vulnerable and are in desperate need of help. People are dying on our streets and the government doesn’t seem to care. The huge numbers of the public who have signed this petition shows that we have a large support.”
For further details:
Mark Grehan 087 7974622
Jon Glackin 086 8885779
Well done to Street Seen and everyone at Saturdays Magical Mystery Tour.
Was the most poignant, funniest and most political action I have ever witnessed. No politicians or partys just ordinary people and homeless people.
more
more
more
more
&
more
keep it up
Perhaps it might be an idea to ask the Minister responsibile about his attempt to conduct a purge of those employed within the homeless sector who have supported this campaign.
It is interersting that while on the one hand Bertie is decrying the actions of Irish Ferries and the effect on "social partnership" that his colleague has been attempting, with the assistance of a city councillor from Berties own ward, to silence all dissent among workers in the homeless sector.
"Best Protest I have ever seen
by lol ! Tuesday, Nov 29 2005, 5:15pm
Well done to Street Seen and everyone at Saturdays Magical Mystery Tour.
Was the most poignant, funniest and most political action I have ever witnessed. No politicians or partys just ordinary people and homeless people.
more
more
more
more
&
more
keep it up"
ehhh homeless people are ordinary people
Two more homeless men have died less than a week before christmas down by Lansdowne Rd. They froze to death in a tent by the river dodder and not so much as an acknowledgement in the news or any media. The government and the people behind it being us the irish people should be ashamed we wont leave our homes without gloves scarves hats etc because its too cold and meanwhile men women and children are lying on the street freezing to death in a first world country. The priests and nuns are not much better they own numerous buildings and land in prominent areas some extra luxurious and worth millions yet they dont seem too eager to put their hands in their pockets and help out.
any updates on where things have gotten to since the homeless revolt began?
i know a few of the lads got a gaff beyond dublin somewhere
how is street seen doing, did new editions come out, has the problem been sorted or sidetracked?
is there more to be done, if so, what?
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