Irish Daily Star

PROTEST ‘CHILLING AND DISGUSTING’

Taoiseach slams demonstrat­ion at O’Gorman’s home

- ■■Danny DE VAAL

The statement read:

“Cllr Juliet O’Connell has resigned from the Labour Party this evening and will not be a candidate for the Labour Party at the local elections.

“The Labour Party only became aware this morning via press query of the WRC adjudicati­on involving Juliet O’Connell Limited.

“The Party immediatel­y moved to activate internal processes to establish the circumstan­ces of what had happened.

“The findings of this case are completely at odds with our Party values and long establishe­d position on protecting, promoting and strengthen­ing workers’ rights.”

A MAN is in critical condition after setting himself on fire outside Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

The man reportedly “threw brochures around” before dousing himself in petrol and setting himself on fire outside of Trump’s trial in New York yesterday.

The man allegedly walked into Collect Pond Park across from the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, threw flyers into the air, then pulled an item out of his backpack and lit himself on fire, a law enforcemen­t official said.

The man is currently hospitalis­ed in critical condition, police said.

One CNN reporter observed that one of the flyers said “NYU is a mob front” and had various allegation­s of wrongdoing­s against the university.

“It was completely out of the blue,” one witness told CNN.

“He took out a match or lighter and

TAOISEACH Simon Harris blasted the “masked” protesters who staged a demonstrat­ion outside Integratio­n Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s house on Thursday.

He described it as “extraordin­arily chilling, disturbing and quite frankly disgusting”.

The Fine Gael leader made the comments after banners were tied outside O’Gorman’s west Dublin home urging him to “close the borders” while another stated “Minister O’Gorman hates children”.

Taoiseach Harris said: “I spoke to Minister O’Gorman about this situation this morning, I am utterly horrified to see it.

“We all recognise the right to protest in a democracy but to see masked people gathering outside a family home is extraordin­arily chilling, disturbing, and quite frankly disgusting.”

Gardai said they maintained a presence until the group dispersed, but stressed set himself completely on fire.

“He kneeled down as if he was praising somebody. He didn’t say anything.”

Paramedic

At least one person had tried to use a fire extinguish­er to put the fire out, and a paramedic tried to render aid to the man.

The incident occurred just minutes after the full jury was selected in Mr they don’t comment on the security arrangemen­ts.

Taoiseach Harris said he was “deeply uncomforta­ble this situation was allowed to happen outside of any person’s home, public figure or otherwise”.

Blame

He said he was “reluctant to rush to blame the gardai” as they operate in a “difficult, dynamic environmen­t”.

However, the Taoiseach added: “There are clear laws in the case of what can and what can’t happen.” Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she had spoken to Garda Commission­er Drew Harris about the incident.

She said O’Gorman’s “privacy and property have been violated in a disgusting and shocking manner”. She added: “This

Trump’s criminal trial.

A man apparently claimed in a blog post earlier yesterday that he was going to set himself on fire outside the courthouse in an act of protest, but it is unclear if the post was tied to the incident.

The former US President was inside the courtroom at the time of the incident, according to CNN. A Secret Service agent briefed Trump in the gallery of the courthouse. cannot be tolerated.”

Social media footage of the incident showed a number of people outside O’Gorman’s house, some wearing balaclavas.

Speaking on Newstalk, Labour’s justice spokespers­on Aodhan O’Riordan said: “This sort of thing of going to individual­s’ houses, if it is a politician’s home today it could be a teacher’s tomorrow or gardai the day after.”

Commenting on the incident, Minister O’Gorman said: “I want to thank local gardai in Blanchards­town for their assistance.

“Ireland has a strong democratic tradition, where public representa­tives are accessible and accountabl­e to the public.

”Threats and intimidati­on towards publicly elected representa­tives and those seeking election will undermine those essential qualities of Irish democracy.

“If we were to lose those, we would lose something very dear.”

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 ?? ?? HORRIFIED: Simon Harris and (right) Roderic O’Gorman
HORRIFIED: Simon Harris and (right) Roderic O’Gorman

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