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Shell to Sea
RTE News is reporting that the Gardai baton-charged a group of protesters.
Update: Breaking News says one person has been injured.
Update: Sinn Fein statement: Ferris criticises Garda handling of Bellanaboy protest; Greens Sargent appeals for calm as violence flares in Bellanaboy.
Update: Labour Face to face talks needed at Bellanaboy, Fine Gael
Update: RTE video hat tip Gamma Goblin
Update: Indymedia Video
Update: The Google Video appears to be someone remixing the video footage. Sorry for not spotting it earlier. Sound card is playing up on me. Here is the full version . I will live the google version up for people unable to download the other version. But do note it is not a match between Arhlow and Eire Og.
Update: Irish Independent. Corrib protesters may face court over ‘assault’ on gardai
“RTE News is reporting that the Gardai had to baton charge a group of protestors.”
Hmm, the RTÉ report just says that they did baton charge the protesters, it doesn’t say that they “had to”.
I din’t mean anything by that at all but I will change it if it bothers you so much
And McDowell is blaming….. [drumroll]….. THE SHINNERS!
He might be right, but this is a case of the boy who cried wolf at this stage.
Cue the Sindo editorial bonanza!
A high court injunction against Gardai in Rossport due to Gardai “exceeding their power granted by law” has already been taken out by an S2S protestor following a previous incident.Full details can be found at http://indymedia.ie/article/79574
Ive had several txts from people in Rossport that several protesters were taken into ambulances due to being baton charged and thrown into ditches/barbed-wire. Despite claims about wanting further talks, both Shell and the Government have rejected Shell To Seas proposal for a public Commission of Enquiry into ‘the optimum development concept’ looking at the issues of environment, health, safety, local and regional benefits.
protesting as in rossport is still legal
i realise the behaviour on the site is critical as to whether its within the law but the shinners are allowed to protest, they are a registered political party.
no point in getting too precious about it
mc dowell can play dirty but so can the rest of us
he has huge difficulty shutting his mouth about the shinners but thats part of holding this big fat position he has -i wonder will he blow it ?
his mouth is his big weakness
those that make peaceful protests impossible, make violent ones inevitable
Seems to me, we have a bunch of people here who have been bitten by the adrenaline bug of publicity and they will never be satisfied no matter what proposals are put forward
It is time to hit them in their pockets not on their heads and start to charge them for the costs of policing their attempts to block legally sanctioned workers to go to their jobs.
protest is legal, impeding someone’s lawful progress on a public road is not necessarily so.
for those with real player http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/2190738.smil
Did your one try to drive a van into a group of Gardai. That was not very peaceful
no, she did not try to drive into the Gardai. I’ll do a full report tonight. What is not peaceful is throwing someone into a ditch (at the end of the clip) nor is raising batons and baton charging non-violent protesters. Even in the video there is a clear distance between the Gardai and protesters yet the order still come for the Gardai to start using violent means.
It looked in the video that is what she did. Also it didn’t look so much a baton charge as a baton stroll. it wasn’t as violent as the word charge suggests. but then i am just basing that on the video.
plenty of right wing comments here it- looks like most of you have never been involved in anything worth a damn
i am a pacifist a socialist and can hack the different views of people but some people believe in nothing and accept the status quo -its dead easy isnt it ? you dont even have to leave the house
your one- as someone described her was not driving her car but the brakes were off and she was being pushed
if this development was happening on the sea front on the clontarf road dublin in this constituency there would be one hell of a protest and would have all the support of the tds they would be afraid to do otherwise
as bertie said at lunchtime the law will have to prevail but as they said on liveline a short while later in connection with the leas cross nursing home scandal the law will also have to prevail ?
no need for umbrellas -pigs will fly first
I wouldn’t call the scenes as violent but there is most definitely a case for excessive use of force. It is not right that local people, like the majority of the people talking in the clip, should be removed with such force. I could understand if it was just a bunch of trouble makers who were there for a riot, but its not. Its mainly local people trying to protect their “families and natural resources”, which they have every right to do. It is only natural that their emotions would be running high especially after how long this saga has gone on.
‘Atilla the Hun’ McDowell surely cannot justify that kind behaviour from the Gardaí. Perhaps if they were trained properly this wouldn’t have happened.
It will be very interesting to hear what Shinners & Joe H have to say about it all over the coming days.
Statements from Greens and Sinn Fein added.
but the brakes were off and she was being pushed
So a van was pushed at Garda lines that is still a van propelled at a Garda line. That is not really peaceful protesting. Now I don’t know the details of the situation but if it was the case that a van was
dilbertly proppelled into Garda lines to break the line or injure Gardai then that is not very pacifived. And Mollie surely as a pacifist you would not condone such behaviour.
Yeah, anyone want to clarify the situation with the van?
It being propelled by human or motorised force is irrelevant, if the intent was to bring the van into the Gardai line (or into the Gardai themselves) then it can hardly be described as peaceful.
Apparently the Shell to Sea group believe it is legal to ram Gardai with a van but not legal for the Gardai to defend themselves with batons. Apparently it’s OK to threaten the homes of shell employees but not to push a protestor off a road. Apparently it’s justifiable to attack bus loads of workers but not to jail those protesters who commit criminal damage. It’s about time the Shell to Sea crowd were handled with a fraction of the force they attempt to deal out to innocent working men every day.
And the irony is if Sinn Fein IRA were in power and not advising the Shell to Sea campaign then a few whacks from a baton would be the least opposition protests could expect.
I think the reason that people are using the argument about the protesters being violent themselves is due partly to the supposed link between them and SF. If anyone was listening to the Last Word on today FM they would have heard the discussion between Martin Ferris, PJ Moran(shell2sea) and I think the last gentleman’s name was Paddy Brennan. PJ Moran clearly stated that there were only about 20 people at the protest who were not from the locality or neighbouring areas. On the RTE clip there is only local people seen talking. As molly said:
“if this development was happening on the sea front on the clontarf road dublin in this constituency there would be one hell of a protest and would have all the support of the tds they would be afraid to do otherwise”
I am not linked to SF or any member of the shell2sea campaign but I do agree with arguments of the local people. Why should they allow this happen in their area. if it is was in my locality I sure as hell would protest if I felt that my family may be in danger from the pipeline. It is a right of every Irish citizen to protest, peacefully I accept. The whole van incident was blown completely out of proportion, as has been said before the van was being driven, it was being pushed. I’m nearly certain that nobody has ever died from a person propelled van. My idea of a violent protest is what occured, probably due to SF, on O’Connell Street, not a group of locals sitting on road in the lashing rain at 6 in the morning.
I think the reason that people are using the argument about the protesters being violent themselves is due partly to the supposed link between them and SF.
Actually they seem to me making the argument because the protesters tried to steer a van into the Gardai, or so it seems.
The whole van incident was blown completely out of proportion, as has been said before the van was being driven, it was being pushed. I’m nearly certain that nobody has ever died from a person propelled van.
Wow, wow, wow… wait a second there. Just because you don’t think anyone has ever died from a person-propelled van, then the whole thing is being blown out of proportion?
The issue is not what damage was actually caused, but that pushing a car into Gardai is far from pacifist and is dangerous.
It’s a critical point to make because if they were indeed pushing a van into or at Gardai then the “unprovoked” attack on them doesn’t seem so unprovoked anymore, does it?
Hopefully the situation will be clarified, but just because they failed to hurt anyone doesn’t mean they’re still pacifists.
I’m not saying they are demonstrating in a completely peaceful manner but I certainly would not use the word violent to describe the protest. Violence results in damage, be it to persons or property. I have heard nothing of any injured Gardaí or damaged Garda property?? If you think that the van pushing was violent I assume that you will then agree that throwing someone into a ditch or hitting women with batons is equally so, if not worse??
With regards to the SF statement issued by Martin Ferris I thought one of the great mantras of that particular party was that they did not believe in the politics of as condemnation, as we have often witnessed when asked to condemn the blowing up to smithereens of people going about their lives in Omagh and Enniskillen etc or the shooting dead of Gerry McCabe by their associates whilst robbing a post office van, yet they seem to be more than willing to condemn the lawful dispersal by the Garda of a hostile crowd bocking the road, I wonder have they a candidate in the locality who they hope will cash in on the situation and maybe get elected.
Col. A van probably weighs about what 2 tons now lets say they pushed it at the gardai at a speed of 5 miles an hour. That is a momentum of 4469Kgms^-1. What happens if a garda had tripped in the panic. The van would have crushed them. The Van was a lot more dangerous then a 5kg baton. We could easily be talking about a dead Garda here. So vs a van used as a battering ram. The van is more violent.
I have heard of gardai injured btw.
Limerick Lad Ya Gerry Murray on 8% last poll i saw. http://www.irishelection.com/party-news/opinion-polls
Charge? That looked to be less a charge than a stroll.
As for people being entitled to do anything they want if they believe their families to be in danger, well the law doesn’t allow for that broad a reach. If you believe your family are in danger because there are Martians living up the hall from you, you are not allowed to block the supposed Martian family from going to work. There are a number issues around the Shell development, the use of our natural resources, the siting of the pipeline and the location of the refining activity. If any one of those protestors have voted for FF since Ray Burke and P. Flynn were party to the deal then they invalidate their protest as they showed they supported the party and individuals who made the deal.
The issues around the pipeline are in the process of being addressed. Essentially, the S2S viewpoint is that any one who comes in and doesn’t come to the same conclusion as they have is ipso facto not independent.
The idea that because gas is sometimes refined off shore that this must be done in this case is hardly any argument at all.
I’ve asked before for someone to provide links to the detailed science that backs up their fears and I’ve never seen anyone provide it.
Isn’t Harrington supposed to be teaching some children?
Apparently she took a sick day. No doubt it’s because of the horrific injuries she sustained at the hands of the Gardai in October. I suppose Dr Mark Garavan signed the sick note.
To whom it may concern,
Mrs Harrington will be unable to attend work due to serious head injuries which prevent her from teaching.
She will however be able to drive her van at speed towards Gardai and threaten innocent workers with physical harm so I wouldn’t worry about that if you see her on TV.
Yours sincerely
Dr Mark Garavan
like how sick with stress she was that she couldn’t attend a court appearance for (drink driving I think it was, ) and yet she turned up in London the next day at an anti Shell protest?
whatever about who made this deal in fianna fail no party in the dail opposed it.
of course the detail of the workings of the project and whether it would be onshore or offshore only came to light 6 years ago.
To their credit the local people are hugely informed on the whole project and they could do shell the company as their specialist subject on Mastermind . and its one hell of an ugly company.
The reason the heat is on is that the project is moving again after a long absence.
There was huge opposition to the port tunnel by residents of marino because it was to be blasted rather than what happened ultimately using a boring machine and the tunnel originally was to be 50 feet under the houses. the tunnel was pushed down much further into the ground and is now ninety feet down- touching the ceiling that is.
it was to be a one tunnel operation first and now its a twin bore job
theres sod all changes in rossport and i hope that someone looses a seat in fianna fail or fine gael they are no better on the issue….
all houses on the route were insured against damage indefinitely
all houses on th eroute were photographed inside and out by an insurance companyetc etc
I can no longer stand looking at that fella o dea in limerick on the late late show
but i have been thinking about how the public reps behaved because of how fearful their voters in marino were of the port tunnel and how it would affect their houses
well, the councillors didnt vote in favour of it at dublin city council meetings they allowed other councillors carry it -real sleeveens if you opposed it - i didnt by the way but it wasnt under my house
all tds sided with the difficulties that the marino residents had with the proposed tunnel and ivor calleley - remember him - according to the northside people the free paper - he said it would be built over his dead body - another bloody broken promise
yes theyre pretty slithery all right
i saw eamonn ryan greens and dr cowley ind. down in the four courts last year when those five men were in prison they were with all the relatives who had travelled up that day and had got up at 4am to make the court appearance - very impressive
i just happened to be going to the high court to watch another case - honestly
knocking the shinners because they support a protest like this is a load of crap
isnt this what most sane people want them to be involved in - believe you me its parties like this who do this and are at ease with it - the higher up the chain you go - they dont want to know.
“Apparently the Shell to Sea group believe it is legal to ram Gardai with a van but not legal for the Gardai to defend themselves with batons. Apparently it’s OK to threaten the homes of shell employees but not to push a protestor off a road. Apparently it’s justifiable to attack bus loads of workers but not to jail those protesters who commit criminal damage. It’s about time the Shell to Sea crowd were handled with a fraction of the force they attempt to deal out to innocent working men every day.”
Plenty of rubbish in the above: 1) A baton charge is not Gardaí defending themselves, it is an action taken to disperse a group of people. 2) Nobody ever said it was OK to threaten the homes of Shell employees. 3) Nobody has attacked workers, by the bus load or otherwise, and as far as I’m aware nobody has committed criminal damage. 4) If the protesters were handled with “a fraction of the force they attempt to deal out”, then the Gardaí would be rubbing their bellies.
If you’re going to have a go at least stick to some solid ground.
Gammon
Sorry Gamma I will change it.
“And this year’s Oscar goes to the lady who wouldn’t move on.”
I take it that the producer of the video must not want people to take it seriously with the commentary from Ed Moroney. Was it how she wanted a dance with the 1st Garda and the 2nd one cut in?
I haven’t heard it. I am using Linux which means that the something always messes up.
Just heard it. Very clever. I have that video at home somewhere. Added the real version with the proper sound.
the googlevideo version was made by gammagoblin (click on his name in previous posts). Amoungst some wonderful comments are, “Nothing like some skull cracking on a Friday to set the tone for the weekend! In a sort of exclusive, I bring you the video that got people talking today(although less than I would have thought).” and, “I’d give the guards a 3 out of 10 score on the Rodney King beating scale; there weren’t enough people hospitalised; where was Robocop when you needed him!”
You see the problem withy this thing is that the opposition to Shell’s plant in Bellanaboy has gave a sense of community to those opposing it. Alot of them never spoke befoe and this thing has gave them something to do during the day. All of them fully believe the coherent nonsense spouted by Garavan. Garavan is a member of FEASTA by the way and one of his earliest objections against this project was based on the assertion that we as a society should not process hydrocarbon fuels. Listen to him again closely when he speaks, its very convincing but is nonsense.