Republicans protest against "God Save The Queen" at Croker
national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report 
Sunday February 25, 2007 19:35
by w. - sound s. - pix
improvemyself at hotmail dot com
Interviews with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and others attending
Saturdays protest against the playing of "God save the Queen" at Croke park never turned into a repeat of last years Love Ulster riot as many had predicted, although things got quite heated between the Gardai and the protestors on several occasions.
The demonstration in Drumcondra was attended by roughly 150 protestors, mostly Republican Sinn Fein, and handed in a letter of protest. Small skirmishes ensued as the crowd attempted to push past the Gardai to march back into the city centre. Despite being forced up a back lane protestors managed to negotiate with the Gardai to allow them to march up Dorset st. to the Garden of Remembrance at Parnell square where Ruairí Ó Brádaigh addressed the crowd.
A small group of 70 people then marched along the path up O Connell st chanting "The I.R.A." and "Brits out now" but dispersed as they reached O Connell bridge. Later a small group of 20 youths returned to O Connell st and were swarmed upon by a group a gardai.
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I think the chant might have been "C" IRA rather than "the" IRA.
The chant ought to have been "C.I..." but we definitely noted a large amount (mistakenly?) chanting "The I.."
What everyone's either forgotten (or never knew) was that God Save The Queen had already been played at Croke Park.
It was during the Special Olympics.
Didn't see many of the republican rank and file out protesting then.
Wonder why...?
... it never happened. You've been conned by an urban myth, Jonny.
I must admit to not being at Croker for the Olympics. But my source is reliable. Can anyone else confirm? I'm open to convincing!
was the national anthem of every country that took part in the special olympics played in Croke Park? I don't think so. I'm sure RTE will have a tape of GSTQ being played to settle this.
What bugs the hell out of me is so many of these people protesting about God Save the Queen been played will all turn around next week and be supporting teams like Man Utd,Arsenal,liverpool etc!!its about time people got a grip!
Saw the demonstration. Looks like RSF have cornered the market on the urban dispossessed youth, or on total wasters who want a row, whatever way you look at it. I would guess that 80% of those there have never played Gaelic games, some of the older ones might have played in the 1940s. There were lads in Celtic shirts holding up signs calling Sean Kelly a 'West Brit traitor.' Now, if anyone doesn't find that ironic please tell me why. RSF are a joke and not a very funny one as people who live in Roscommon and Kildare are desperatly trying to recruit teenagers to die for them on the border, because that is where this is all going to end up folks.
I was at the special olympics in Croke Park as a helper and I can confirm that the British National Anthem WAS PLAYED along with ever Anthem of the Countries taking part so that should put that one to bed.
IT HAPPENED
The GAA released a statement last week declaring that GSTQ was NOT played at Croker during the special olympics. I'd take the word of the GAA over anybody else.
Don't know if this can be re-produced here but there is a photo of a guy on Saturday's protest, wearing a Celtic shirt and track top, holding a 'No to Foreign games' placard. You could not make this up. by the way what is progressive about bringing kids like this onto the streets, then leaving them to the riot squad while you head off to Parnell Street HQ to send off another press release on Eire Nua?
http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/capt...ames/
Get the context? Anyway a lot less sneerable than the photo in Herald am today of some confused chap in an Ireland jersey brandishing a six-county royalist flag while lustily joining in "God save our empire's hoor"
Whats funny about the placards used at that protest is that they got the score almost right 'Ireland-32 England-0 '.
I was at the match and the respect given to the English national anthem really showed such a dignity in the Irish people. It was truly an emotional experience.
Both those people are confused then. But the loyalists weren't trying to get a few kids, who I would assume have never played GAA in their lives, to be cannon fodder for Ruairi and Des Dalton's photo ops. Btw have never heard our national anthem sung as loud as on Saturday and I have been to a lot of All-Irelands.
Not sure about the English national anthem being played at the special olympics but the RUC (as they were at the time if I'm not mistaken) did have a cohort of motorbike riders who paraded around Croke Park in full uniform beside Garda bike riders.
I would have thought that that would be more offensive to the 'Repbulican' Sinn Fein mob than any national anthem.
Saw that photo in the paper of they guy in the celtic jersey with the sign saying no foreign games, kind of sums it up really.
See picture.
I was trying to find the RSF Anti-god save the quen, mini-protest on saturday 24th feb. I was not sure where it was to start from. I noticed a woman holing a sign for RSF and i asked her where the protest was to begin from. I wanted to film the protest, not take part in it. About 2 minutes after i walked away fom the woman, 2 undercover guards approached me and asked me what was i doing? Why was i talking to that woman, they also took my name and address.
My question: Do they have a right to do that? Do i have a right to remain silent in ireland?
Please help me if you can,
Thanks.
Come on folks! Surely its time to stop the petty protests? Who gives a damn if they play God save the bloody Queen at Croke Park? It's the least of our worries especially at a time when Republicanism is being dismantled by the Leadership of $inn Fein. You would make better use of your time getting out on the streets of the North or writing letters to the press in support of those who have put themselves forward to try and save everything so many have died for.
These protests leave true Republicans open to ridicule, have a bit of sense please.
The Gardaí are allowed to ask you whatever they want.
However, you only have to tell them your name and your address. You have the right to remain silent about everything else.
Pics from Saturday.
...
My ribs were certainly tickled coming across the picture doing the rounds yesterday of a fully Celtic FC kitted bloke holding a sign with 'No Foreign Games' on it. Nice one on this report, its a standard of effort we could do with a lot more on Indymedia.
The picture below shows, side by a side, a section from an indymedia photo above and a photo that was widely printed in the corporate media on the right.
As can be seen, the gentleman in the white celtic tracksuit is holding a sign that says "Restore Rule 42" and somebody else behind him is carrying the "No To Foreign Games" Sign.
The pose of the protestor is the same and he has the same people around him in both shots, indicating that they are taken at roughly the same time. Why would he swap placards? It's not something that people normally do.
You can also note that the guy in the green hat with the yellow stripe seems to appear twice in the photo on the right (behind both shoulders of the protestor).
Smells very fishy... Such photo-shop jobs are not exactly uncommon by snappers who want to sell their stuff - they consider it just being 'creative' with the truth. In this case, the distortion isn't terribly severe as both signs did indeed appear - just not in such a photogenic way.
Was the Picture on the Right Photo-Shopped
is not the fact that someone would go on a protest like this wearing Celtic gear not even ironic in itself? I would hazrd a guess that the young gent does not know what Rule 42 was. And way back in my distant youth the actual policy of O Bradaigh and co was opposition to 'foreign games' full stop. In the 70s the Provos argued against the GAA allowing players to take part in soccer and rugby. See An Phoblacht 1970-71. Or did someone fake that up too?
"is not the fact that someone would go on a protest like this wearing Celtic gear not even ironic in itself?"
I think it is, but then again, I don't agree with nationalism in any way, not the FF variety, not the SF variety and most certainly not the RSF variety. I think this particular protest was, more or less, bonkers. Still, I'm just pointing out what looks very much like a wee bit of creative photo-editing.
Compare the "No to Foreign Games' placards in both pictures. They are the same placard. The lads were swapping placards all days. They would leave the protest area and give someone rldr the placard and then come back and pick up another one.
The pose is also different, one he has hands close to his pockets, another his hand above the rail.
Unfortunately, there was no need for a photoshop. Desperate attempt to paint a picture of Corporate media versus indymedia
Gerry Adams to lay wreathe at Croke Park on Sunday to the massacre of 15 Englishmen there on 24th February 2007
Actually the fact that the guy with the green hat with a white stripe appears in the disputed photo twice very, very strongly suggests this is photoshopped. There is only one guy wearing that sort of hat in the large screen photo of the area that the smaller one is cropped out of.
I also think the protest was pretty stupid and got a laugh out of the celtic top but all the same this looks like some less than honest photoshopping. What media used this image?
Clearly some need to get to specsavers.
The two pics are different, the collar of the Celtic shirt is visible on the left not the right and look at the left arm and hand position. Finally the photshopping (if it ws) would have to be very artful - look at the ripples on the paper the slogan is on.
I'm not suggesting the second picture is a photoshopped version of the first. I'm suggesting that it is a different picture that has been photoshopped.
Have a look at the big picture of the scene at the top of this thread. The placard is in that picture being held by someone else. So there would be no need to create the placard, just copy and paste it onto the guy in the celtic top. The give away is that someone wearing a green hat with a white stripe manages to appear in that picture twice, one to the right and once to the left.
While I dont doubt that the comrade in the celtic jersey might have swapped placards I dont see why he would. It would be very easy for a graphic designer to seamlessly photoshop the placard from one picture onto another, why they would bother is another question.
I'm still waiting for my apology from the RSF member who called indymedia "biased weirdos". ;-)
The mainstream media is useless for reporting this sort of thing, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if some hack photoshopped the picture. It's the equivalent of what they're used to doing with text. (They're completely unprepared when there is something happening, coming out of the woodwork afterwards to lie about it: http://indymedia.ie/article/74562 ) and then work themselves and their readers into a frenzy over stuff like this. See link below for an amusing observation from someone that was on the Shell 2 Sea demo.
Nice report w.
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