Shadow of Capitol attack could fall on our democracy
:: Why 2010 proves Ireland must be vigilant
IRELAND was in a dark place on November 22, 2010. The economy collapsed, unemployment was soaring and we were days away from the announcement of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
There was a lot of anger with the majority focused on the failings of the Fianna Fáil/Green Party government led by Brian Cowen. Protests around Leinster House and Government Buildings had become the norm. The vast majority were peaceful.
However, on this particular day, things turned nasty. A group of around 50 protesters led by Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh pushed their way through the gates of Government Buildings and angrily confronted gardaí and military police tasked with protecting our democratic institutions.
They chanted “peaceful protest” as they stormed the Merrion Street compound which houses the Department of the Taoiseach. Despite the toughguy tactics from Ó Snodaigh’s group, they retreated fairly quick when one baton-armed garda stood up to them.
Among the demonstrators were two current Sinn Féin TDs – Eoin Ó Broin and Paul Donnelly. At this point, both were aspiring politicians having unsuccessfully run for the Dáil and council seats. Ó Broin would be elected to the Dáil for the first time a few weeks later. It would take another decade for Donnelly to democratically enter the parliament.
While the incident pales in comparison to the Donald Trump-led siege of Capitol Hill in Washington, it does show populist political tactics are not exclusive to the US. On Wednesday, Trump told the demonstrators he would join them but didn’t.
The angry protesters in Dublin were led by a sitting TD and included a handful of would-be political leaders. They waved Sinn Féin flags and demanded the resignation of the Taoiseach. Albeit a deeply unpopular and arguably failed leader.
However, in this country, like other functioning democracies, leaders are disposed of at the ballot box rather than by storming Government Buildings. The Sinn Féin activists didn’t wear face paint or Norseman-like horned headwear as they shouted “Cowen
out” in the faces of gardaí. But video footage of the incident, available on YouTube, showed a group just as determined to take on the State as the “stop steal” chanting Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists.
Perhaps if there had been a few gardaí in Washington rather than what looked like an apathetic local police force things would not have got so out of hand.
The insurrection on Capitol Hill was driven by an entirely false narrative, that the US election was rigged and Joe Biden had fraudulently won more votes than Trump.
While most people here believe this to be utter nonsense, there are millions in the US who believe otherwise. Those who stormed the US parliament were encouraged by Trump at a rally he held outside the White House.
Last year, after the General Election in February, Mary Lou McDonald held her own series of rallies where she demanded to be made Taoiseach despite not having the numbers in the Dáil.
Newly elected TDs posted photos of McDonald on social media, the images captioned “this is my Taoiseach”. Some of these same TDs would later have to apologise for anti-vaccination and anti-Semitic comments they posted online.
Others apologised for sharing conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks. Recent polling data shows 45pc of Sinn Féin voters do not intend to take the Covid vaccine.
When events unfolded in America on Wednesday, most Sinn Féin TDs didn’t feel it necessary to weigh in.
But on Twitter, McDonald criticised the “shameful scenes” in Washington which she called a “direct attack on democracy”.
Former EU Council president Donald Tusk also had an interesting tweet: “There are Trumps everywhere, so each and everyone should defend their Capitol.”