GRETA IS BACKING ‘BANNED’ STUDENT PROTEST
Climate march permit blocked by the gardaí
GARDAÍ have refused a permit for a Dáil climate change protest by school children today, warning of dangerous crushing scenes at previous marches by pupils.
They warned that teachers
could face criminal proceedings if anyone is hurt at the event.
However, former President Mary Robinson and Swedish teenage campaigner Greta Thunberg have rallied behind the youngsters.
Organisers of the march – part of a
nationwide ‘Fridays for Future’ protest by teenagers – said they would defy the gardaí and march anyway.
Officers are concerned that previous climate change protests ‘left a lot to be desired’ with schoolchildren climbing up scaffolding and Luas power cable poles.
Even more alarmingly, they told of primary schoolchildren standing in front of a coach to stop it moving, while their teachers refused to act.
In leaked emails, a sergeant at Pearse Street Garda station refused to grant a permit, and said: ‘Since no supervision can be guaranteed and, given the age profile and issues that have occurred previously... anyone bringing the students to an unsuitable area to gather and creates a situation similar to the crushing scenes that happened at previous marches leave themselves open to criminal proceedings.’
But former President and UN High Commissioner Ms Robinson released a video supporting the students yesterday, and said they should have the right to protest, especially as they weren’t old enough to vote.
Ms Thunberg, retweeted the Irish students’ demand to march today – and the emails leaked from Pearse Street Garda Station. And hundreds of her supporters stood by the students.
Thousands of children are set to miss school to participate in the nationwide protest.
‘We have every right to protest’
But a Garda spokeswoman said that while they ‘respect’ the strikers’ right to protest, they have ‘declined to sanction’ the action due to the safety concerns.
Undeterred, the teenage protesters will go ahead with the event and organisers say they expect up to 2,000 in Dublin alone.
They have urged students to gather at 12.45pm at the end of Grafton Street and begin a march to the Dáil, arriving at Leinster House at 2pm.
Similar strikes will take place across Ireland in cities such as Galway, Cork and Waterford.
Organisers posted the leaked email exchanges with the gardaí. They read: ‘The age dynamics of the participants taking part has to be factored in. Based on previous protests the lack of supervision of the school kids, both primary and secondary, has a lot to be desired, given that kids were allowed to; climb scaffolding towers, climb Luas power cable poles and walk out in front of buses (kids from primary school placed in front of a coach to stop it moving). When teachers were asked to stop the kids from doing this gardaí were informed that they had their own minds and they couldn’t do anything to stop this.’
The Fridays for Future movement is inspired by the 17-year-old Swedish activist Ms Thunberg, who started skipping schools on Fridays to protest on climate change.
The movement has spread across the world and today marks the sixth big strike in Ireland, though some children strike every week.
The teenagers told the Irish Daily Mail they were ‘not worried’ by the Garda’s warning as they insisted they would go ahead with the protest.
‘It’s still going ahead and we have changed the route to make sure it is safe and that supervision is there,’ a 16-year-old Fridays for Future spokeswoman told the Mail.
‘We’re not worried, we have the backing of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, who have told us we have every right to protest peacefully.
‘We’re doing this because it’s the day before the election and we want politicians to listen. The next four or five years will be a deciding factor in the way this country is going in terms of climate change,’ she said. A Garda spokeswoman reiterated last night that they will not interfere with the children’s rights to protest.
‘An Garda Síochána respects the right for anyone to exercise their right to protest and facilitates such protests as long as they do not create a public hazard or a health and safety risk,’ said the spokeswoman.