OCCUPY PRUSSIA ST
Dramatic scenes as protesters, security firm and gardaí clash
1. Protester, circled, throws a large chair at a man, who appears to be a security guard, climbing up ladder to roof as others climb up at back of property
A PROPERTY taken over by housing activists was left in ruin yesterday following clashes between protesters, a private security firm and gardaí.
More than ten people first occupied the building on Prussia Street in north Dublin last month in a bid to raise awareness over empty housing and to provide shelter for the homeless.
The group, known as That Social Centre, said its plans were to ‘clean up, build infrastructure, host events and workshops, and resist any further eviction attempts’. However, its vision was disrupted after learning that a private security firm had been tasked with removing everyone from the site yesterday morning.
Word of the eviction was widely spread on social media, with dozens of supporters arriving outside the property to protest.
Aggravated scenes then ensued, showing gardaí and security staff clashing with the activists.
The Dublin 7 road adjacent to the building was also briefly closed, with heavy traffic forming as a result.
The Community Action Tenants Union [CATU] branch for Fairview, Marino and Clontarf claimed to have seen multiple ladders raised in an attempt to reach a tenant on the roof of the building.
In a video posted by That Social Centre, a protester could be seen hurling a chair at one of the security men as he tries to reach him.
In another dramatic scene, a demonstrator is seen throwing an object at the security guard and then attempting to push the bailiff off the ladder.
One member of the group claimed: ‘[The security staff] are tearing the place apart, they scaled the neighbour’s walls to get us off the roof. And now that they’ve beaten us all up, and smashed our things, they’re tearing apart the buildings we were using to host community meetings, bike cafes and workshops.’
After the security men had left the premises in two vans, That Social Centre stated that it had taken back the space, ‘but the damage is bad’.
The group said the security firm had covered rooms in oil, ‘smashed every toilet, every appliance, every window, and worst of all, tore up all the spaces we use for community events’.
The protest group added that the roof had been cut into ‘to make it leaky and ruined’.
Another demonstration is planned to be held outside the building again today at 6pm. Gardaí confirmed they attended the Prussia Street site where a ‘property owner, in compliance with a court order, was securing a premises and facilitating access to persons to remove personal items’.
‘A group of people gathered at the scene, some of whom commenced to engage in purported protest activity,’ a Garda spokesman said. ‘A traffic management operation was put in place and the road was closed temporarily for public safety.
‘The matter has since concluded and the road has fully reopened to traffic.’
No arrests were made during the incident, but inquiries are continuing.
One man who had been occupying the house told RTÉ that a group of men wearing balaclavas forcibly removed them from the property at around 6.30am yesterday morning.
The spokesman, who did not wish to be identified, said there had been around ten to 15 activists sleeping in the building over the past two months.
It had also been used by ‘four or five’ homeless people.
One of the protesters had to attend hospital with a head injury following the dawn clashes, he added.
‘One suffered a head injury’