Anti-Lockdown Protest Turns Violent in Dublin, Ireland
The Gardai, the national police service of the Republic of Ireland, who arrested 23 people in a violent anti-lockdown protest. (Flickr)
Police arrested 23 Irish civilians on February 27 when an anti-lockdown protest in Dublin’s city center turned violent.
Hundreds of people participated in the planned protest that began around 2 pm on Grafton Street after police had prevented civilians from gathering at St. Stephen’s Green. Protestors shouted chants such as “end the lockdowns” and “let Ireland live” to demonstrate their opposition to Irish COVID-19 restrictions.
After one man launched two fireworks into the group of police, officers charged into the crowd and arrested 23 civilians. The fireworks injured three officers, one of whom ended up in the hospital.
In the event’s aftermath, Garda (Irish police force) Commissioner Drew Harris criticized the protest’s violent nature, remarking, “You don’t carry fireworks for any other purpose than to engage in violent conduct.” Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin also condemned the violence, calling it “totally unacceptable.”
The demonstration comes just days after the Irish government extended its level five lockdown by six more weeks, lasting until April 5. Current restrictions mandate traveling only for essential reasons and instruct citizens to stay within 5 kilometers of their house. When cases in Ireland started to decline towards the end of 2020, the Irish government relaxed restrictions on December 1. Since then, however, cases have once again surged, leading to Ireland’s having the highest per capita infection rate as of January. The new infectious B117 variant from the U.K. now is responsible for around 90 percent of all cases in Ireland. Despite this extension of lockdowns, schools still plan to open in March.
Some protesters wore clothing with logos of Ireland’s far-right wing political group National Party, a fringe organization founded in 2016 with no official elected representatives. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the party has said that lockdowns are “destroying… lives and livelihoods.”
As videos of the event circulated on social media, most Twitter users condemned the violence, with one Irish citizen commenting that the protest was “an insult to the people who have died, those who work at the frontline of our hospitals day in day out and those who have otherwise suffered during the pandemic.” He further commented on the far-right’s presence, remarking, “we need to heed the lessons from other countries dealing with the far right.” Justin Barrett, the party’s leader, gave an official statement on the event, asserting that there was “no excuse” for the violence that occurred at the “otherwise peaceful” protest.