Protest over plans to screen royal wedding at Whale Theatre
An organisation called ‘Anti Imperialist Action Ireland’ has postered Whale Theatre and Greystones town in opposition to its sold-out royal wedding event.
The Greystones theatre will be screening the nuptials of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Saturday, May 19.
The group posted photos of its posters last Wednesday morning on Facebook with the heading ‘#SmashNormalisation Direct Action Against Royal Parasites in Greystones!’
The action was taken in response to plans by the Whale Theatre to hold a party to celebrate the English royal wedding, which will include a live broadcast of the wedding at the theatre, a champagne breakfast and wedding cake.
Referring to the people at Whale Theatre as ‘West Brits’, the group of ‘Irish Socialist Republicans’ said that they carried out a direct action ‘to highlight the serious opposition in the local area at what is a deliberate attempt to promote the ongoing occupation of Ireland as normal’.
They put up the posters which read ‘Greystones Against Royal Parasites. Smash British Normalisation’.
‘All attempts to normalise the illegal occupation of Ireland by Britain must be resisted by Republicans. Britain, get out of Ireland now!’ posted the group on Facebook.
A spokesperson for Whale Theatre said that they host screenings of a large variety of world events at the venue, including the Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow, opera performances from the Met in New York and Six Nations rugby matches. They had plans to screen the Eurovision Song Contest but there was not much of a takeup and they will also screen the Pope’s visit to Ireland in August on the big screen.
They had not envisaged any protests to the royal wedding and said that they were saddened by it.
All 75 tickets for the royal wedding event have sold out and the theatre is operating a waiting list of 80.
The Anti Imperialist Action Ireland group is also against RTÉ broadcasting the wedding.
‘The hosting of an English Royal Wedding Party in Greystones, like the decision by RTÉ to broadcast the wedding live, is part of a wider agenda to portray the struggle for Irish National Liberation as finished, and to present the relationship between Ireland and Britain as a normal one,’ the group said in a statement.
‘As this direct action shows, the illegal presence of British Imperialism in Ireland will continue to be resisted and Irish Socialist Republicans are committed to challenging and smashing the Normalisation agenda,’ they said.