Giant housing demo halts the traffic on O’Connell Bridge
THOUSANDS of protesters brought Dublin to a standstill yesterday causing traffic chaos and disruption to businesses and commuters as they marched through the city to highlight homelessness and the housing crisis.
Some of the protesters, who camped on O’Connell Bridge for several hours, were verbally abused by a group of English tourists, who shouted at them and called them ‘f***ing scroungers’ and ‘lazy bastards’.
Taxis and buses trapped on the bridge were forced to reverse down Westmoreland Street, while the Luas Green Line had to halt part of its service.
The ‘day of action’ was organised by the Take Back The City group, which has been occupying vacant properties over the last few months.
Lisa Hogan, an emergency support worker in Dublin city, said she counted 66 men and 15 women on the streets last night.
‘The system is a shambles. I am fighting for my children and my grandchildren,’ she said to applause. Among those who turned out for the protest was Paddy Cosgrave, the founder of the hugely successful Web Summit, who said he had been surprised to meet people working at major companies such as Google, LinkedIn and Facebook ‘who love living and working in Dublin, but whose quality of life is being hammered by spiralling rent.’