Officers injured in Dublin riot

Several police officers and a journalist have been hurt during a republican riot in Dublin.
Disturbances broke out in O'Connell Street in the city centre, where a unionist rally to remember the victims of republican violence was to start.

Stones and fireworks were thrown after republican demonstrators mounted a counter-march. The loyalist rally was cancelled as a result of the trouble.

Several cars were set on fire and up to 40 people have been arrested.


It is understood a total of 14 people were injured, including six police officers who were taken to hospital for treatment.

A number of protesters were also injured during the clashes.

The demonstrators said they would "not allow a loyalist march to pass".

Republicans threw missiles at police in riot gear.

It is understood the counter-march was organised by Republican Sinn Fein - a political party which broke away from Sinn Fein in the 1980s.

Sinn Fein maintained they were in no way involved in the violence.

The loyalsts who had intended parading along O'Connell Street staged a short rally outside Leinster House before returning north.

One of the buses carrying them home was attacked by stone throwers as it approached the border town of Dundalk in County Louth.

Ulster Unionist, Michael Copeland, who was on board, said the rioters had nothing to offer society.


Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the unionists should have enjoyed the freedom to demonstrate their views.

"There is absolutely no excuse for the disgraceful scenes in Dublin," he said.


"It is the essence of Irish democracy and republicanism that people are allowed to express their views freely and in a peaceful manner.

"People who wantonly attack gardai (police) and property have no respect for their fellow citizens."


Up to 1,000 people had been expected to take part in the Love Ulster rally to remember those affected by republican violence.

DUP and Ulster Unionist politicians were among those who had hoped to parade through the centre of the city, in a march organised by the victims group Fair.

A delegation was to meet the Republic's Justice Minister, Michael McDowell after the march.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the rioting was "entirely wrong and reprehensible".

"There is no justification for what happened this afternoon in Dublin. Sinn Fein had appealed to people to ignore this loyalist parade and not to be provoked by it.

"Our view was that it should not be opposed in any way and we made that clear. Regrettably a small, unrepresentative group, chose to ignore our appeal."

Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson, who had been due to speak at the event, said: "We have received a warm welcome from ordinary Dubliners, but its clear these republicans have come from north of the border and other areas intent only on causing trouble.

"They have done that and once again unionists through the threat of violence have denied unionists civil liberties."

Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy and Fair director William Frazer handed a letter of complaint to Michael McDowell.

Mr Kennedy said: "It's ironic that republicans are telling unionists that speaking rights are available to us in the Dail (Irish Parliament) and yet here were we denied speaking rights because of republicans.

"They completely showed themselves for what they are."

Mr McDowell said "acts of thuggery, brutality, cowardice and inhumanity" had been unleashed on the people of Dublin by "an organised mob".

"The only message these people have managed to convey to the people of Dublin and of Ireland is that sectarian violence is, once again, being unleashed against all of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and the overwhelming wishes of the Irish people."

Irish President Mary McAleese said the rioting was "totally unacceptable".



The SDLP's Alban Maginness strongly condemned the republican rioters.

"It is disturbing that marchers have been prevented from peaceful demonstration," he said.

"This action of extreme republicans simply plays into hands of those of the unionist right who cannot conceive unionist rights being upheld in a new Ireland."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4750576.stm


A handful of idiots, as usual

Fucking scumbags. Regardless of the marcher's political affiliations, it was organised by FAIR, an organistaion representing families of those killed by paramilitaries to draw attention to the victims of the IRA, and with Sinn Fein growing in support on both sides of the border they have a right to draw attention to that. That kind of response was totally unwarranted, especially in a society that's as cosmopolitan as Dublin is these days.

what do you think the reaction to something like this is? Is it written off as the actions of reactionaries, or is it taken more seriously than that (obviously violence is serious--I mean in terms of who these people speak for?)

It makes me fuckin' embarrassed to call myself Irish.It would appear that some arseholes have decided to try and fuck everything up for everyone else.There is a lot to be said for banning all sectarian(religious) marches on this island.It always leads to this violent outcome.I was raised to love and respect everyone no matter what their allegiances.I married someone from across the divide.

It's all about the upbringing I find. I find it amazing the stuff parents will tell their kids, even today

Oh, religion. It'd be so much easier for everyone if it actually had an opiate effect on the masses.

KM new what he was talking about.By the way,only Catholics have Masses.

You could see this coming from a mile off though, and even though I know the majority of politicians in the Dail are comlete morons I'm amazed that they gave permission for the march to go ahead. I'm a supporter of free speech and the public expression of opinion, and the sentiment behind the march was noble, but the fact remains that there are groups of people all around the country who are LOOKING for a reason to cause trouble, and allowing the march to go ahead was handing them an opportunity on a silver platter. Calling them republicans is insulting republicans who are happy to engage in peaceful protests. These are nothing more than garden-variety hoodlums and gangsters, that were happy to use this as an excuse to cause havoc looting and setting fire to cars in the streets of the capital.

Absolutely correct.Like I said in a previous post.All religious marches should be banned in this country.Even if it's the least offensive march possible,someone will find a reason to start a fight at it.

I'm going to go ahead and agree with you both. I'm from the East and I really want to see the Orange marches banned, they piss the fuck out of me every year, and after last year's performance I'm surprised any right-thinking person still thinks they should be allowed to march.

I think that, considering where you come from,is a mighty big statement to make.It just makes sense.

I honestly think we have the best wee place in the world here - when I have kids I'd like them to be able to grow up here in peace, and I'll be fucked if a bunch of buck eejits stuck in eighteenth century is going to bollocks it up for them.

Hey,I've 4 kids.Each one is being brought up the way their mother and I was.The education system sucks.There's not enough tolerance taught from an early age.And some of the parents should have been sterilised from birth.

You've been busy - that's nice going, consider your hand shaken four times.

I was very lucky that I was brought up how I was. I'm glad that I grew up here at the time I did - I think it matured me early on in life. Having said that, I wouldn't want anyone else to have to do it.

Stuz.I'm 13 years older than you and saw some god awful things happen that never made the news.Things that I'm sure you've maybe heard about if not seen.I was in my teens when all manner of things were going on.Even out here in the sticks there were certain towns and villages you couldn't go into. One day at Easter time we were paid our 3 weeks holiday pay as well as our weeks wages.We decided to go on a pub crawl for a laugh.To cut a long story short we went in to a pub about 6pm in a wee village about 5 miles away from where we were from.Within 20 minutes that place was full of hoods.We were told to leave or pay the price.I was 18 at the time.thank fuck they let us go.All because we were from a certain place.The real "funny" thing about it was that there were 5 of us.3 catholic and 2 protestant.These guys are still my mates.It just makes me sad.As you stated in a previos post,this place has the potential to be the best wee place on the planet.

it has the potential to be the best wee place on the planet, and yet we still manage to fuck it up by dint of grudge-bearing....

Exactly. The scenery, the people (in general), and accent, the opportunities - all excellent. Northern Ireland contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the world and still people fuck everything up