Taoiseach: You do not protest with an axe
Taoiseach delivers strong condemnation as violence erupts at anti-asylum demo
TAOISEACH Simon Harris has rejected the legitimacy of an anti-asylum demonstration that turned violent and saw the riot squad called in, saying: ‘You don’t protest with an axe.’ The demonstrators who gathered near the scene in Co. Wicklow yesterday morning were adamant that an axe recovered from the scene was not used as a weapon. However, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said a patrol vehicle at the scene in Newtownmountkennedy had been damaged with such an implement.
TAOISEACH Simon Harris has rejected the legitimacy of an anti-asylum demonstration that turned violent and saw the riot squad called in, saying: ‘You don’t protest with an axe.’
Tensions continued yesterday at the Trudder House site in Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, following chaotic scenes the previous evening between the Public Order Unit and protesters – which saw six arrests made.
Gardaí said three patrol cars suffered significant damage, with one vehicle’s windows smashed with an axe during the clashes.
Fires were also lit at the scene, while stones thrown towards the shield-bearing riot squad.
A Garda statement said members ‘used force to defend themselves’, including the use of pepper spray, as part of an ‘escalated response’ to the violence.
Shortly before four of the protesters appeared before Bray District Court yesterday, the Taoiseach condemned the tactics used by the demonstrators in his own constituency.
‘You don’t protest in this country with an axe,’ Mr Harris said. ‘You don’t engage in protest that involves fire, that involves burning things, that involves thuggery and that involves assaulting members of An Garda Síochána or their vehicles.
‘That is utterly unacceptable and reprehensible behaviour in this country.’
He continued: ‘I fully understand how communities can have views. I get that. Protest is legitimate in a democracy, I get that, but you don’t protest with an axe. What happened last night in this county of Wicklow will not be tolerated and will not be tolerated anywhere in this country as the laws of the land are clear and the laws of the land will be enforced by An Garda Síochána.’
Mr Harris added that there’s a clear difference between a protest and thuggery.
Yesterday, four people from Newtownmountkennedy appeared at Bray District Court in connection with the incident.
Inspector Niall Kennedy of Bray Garda Station said the protest had turned into a ‘mob’, with individuals setting fires and causing criminal damage to property and injury to members of An Garda Síochána. ‘The level of violence met by the gardaí here was relentless, prolonged and extremely dangerous,’ he said.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris visited the scene in Newtownmountkennedy yesterday morning and described what happened as unacceptable.
‘We’ve seen an attempt to burn a small outhouse-type premises, but also then, disgracefully, attacks on members of An Garda Síochána who were attacked with stones, and vehicles have been damaged, and one vehicle, the vehicle behind me, was damaged with an axe,’ he said.
‘Rubble and stones were thrown from fields and members had to deploy in protective public order equipment and shields to make sure that they could protect themselves from the assaults upon them.’
The trouble flared after workers contracted to carry out construction on the former HSE facility attempted to enter the site, identified by the Department of Integration as a potential accommodation option for international protection applicants. The demonstrators who gathered near the
‘Stones were thrown from fields’
scene yesterday morning were adamant the axe recovered from the scene was not used as a weapon. Instead, they said it was used to cut wood which they had intended to put in a barrel and set alight to keep warm.
Government sources last night said gardaí had the ‘full backing’ of the Government and that they believed the officers were simply ‘doing their jobs’ in the way they handled the situation on Thursday night. The source said the Taoiseach and Justice Minister Helen McEntee met with the Garda Commissioner a fortnight ago. The Commissioner was asked if there was anything from a legislative perspective that he needed and is understood to have said that there wasn’t.
In a statement shared on social media yesterday, Ms McEntee said: ‘Any attack on a member of An Garda Síochána is an attack on our democracy and our State.
‘Gardaí have my full support in their work and while peaceful protest is a right we all value, we will not tolerate vandalism and attacks on gardaí.’
Speaking on WLR FM yesterday, Ms McEntee added that gardaí ‘were fired upon’ while policing the protest, ‘in that there were
rocks thrown at them’.
She continued: ‘There were people there who physically attacked members of An Garda Síochána.
‘There were cars and Garda equipment there that were damaged. You had a small fire that people attempted to set on the scene where gardaí were.
‘It’s not acceptable. It’s not to be tolerated. This is not a peaceful protest. This is people who are breaking the law and so I fully support the response that the gardaí took last night.’
Ms McEntee said every person has a right to peaceful protest and to make their views known.
However, she added that nobody has a right to prevent someone from entering their property, to blockade an entrance to a property, to stop workers from going to work or to attack gardaí.
‘That’s exactly what happened last night, as gardaí did their job in making sure that we could do what we can to accommodate those who are seeking protection,’ said the Justice Minister.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman added that the State will ‘not tolerate’ such incidents.
‘We saw extremely serious scenes of violence in Newtownmountkennedy last night. We had workmen trying to get on with their job, trying to provide accommodation at the site there,’ he said. ‘We really appreciate the support from An Garda Síochána in terms of their
intervention, in terms of keeping people who were just trying to do their job safe.’
He also told The Journal: ‘We’ll work to police these situations to the best of our ability. I know there has been a significant number of arrests and I’m hoping that this will show that the State will not tolerate these sort of activities in any situation.’
Yesterday afternoon, several local residents became aggravated at the sight of additional barriers being erected close to Trudder House. Addressing the Public Order Unit one woman said: ‘If this was happening in your area how would you feel?
‘We’re here because this is our community. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Who are you protecting?’ Another man was heard saying: ‘You’re supposed to be protecting citizens of the Irish Republic. All you’re protecting is illegal immigrants.
‘I hope your families are proud of you. You’re a disgrace and enabling the corrupt Government… Have you no shame?’