According to a number of attendees who were at the last march and spoke with The Liberal, further large scale anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests are planned for Dublin.
Huge crowds of people from all backgrounds and political beliefs gathered in Dublin on Saturday afternoon to protest against the government and its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The media has been quick to focus on the ‘conspiracy theory’ elements of the protest. From meeting people on the scene it was clear that this event is the product of a wider growing anti-establishment sentiment growing in the public aside from the issues of masks and vaccinations.
Despite the mixed weather, between 1000 and 3000 people attended the rally which was organised by Yellow Vests Ireland as well as other grassroots political groups. From noon people began congregating at Custom House, and the numbers rapidly swelled. We spoke to a range of attendees from all walks of life.
Travelling from their home in Kilkenny, a Polish family told us they’d come to the rally over concerns that their children might not return to school soon. They explained that the effects of lockdown had affected the education and lives of kids across the country. Later on we met a mother who said her young children are often kept awake at night due to the levels of anti-social behaviour plaguing her inner city Dublin community, with the Gardai and media seeming happy to ignore such issues. An overall sense of frustration with an ‘out of touch’ government and political class was symbolised by ‘GolfGate’, a scandal mentioned by most of our interviewees.
Shortly before the speakers were due to start, trouble started when counterprotestors appeared on Butt Bridge. Chanting Antifa and Black Lives Matter slogans, they were met by members of the rally and small fights ensued. Out of seemingly nowhere the scene was filled with Garda Public Order vans, leading this reporter to suspect that police had intelligence that there may be trouble at the event. Quickly Gardai split up the two groups, sealing off Custom House and containing the counter protest group, which consisted of about 30 people. Although they did a good job at returning peace to the protest, we saw Guards aggressively telling bystanders to ‘f*ck off’ and ‘get the f*uck away’ during their rapid operation.
Although it is of course the right of any group or individual to stage a protest, it is unclear what or whom exactly Antifa/BLM were referring to in their chants of ‘fascist scum’. None of the speakers said anything particularly right wing, and the vast majority of attendees could not be described remotely as ‘fascists’. Whether or not you agree with the theories of the protestors and organisers, to apply such a dangerous label to ordinary people is slanderous and lazy.
The speeches began shortly after two, when the crowd had reached its peak. The speakers included experts from the legal and medical fields, as well as activists for Yellow Vests Ireland.
Michael Leahy, an architect and member of the Irish Freedom Party, spoke of Ireland’s ‘thirst for liberty’ and warned that Irish people had been subjected to an orchestrated ‘climate of fear, hostility and suspicion’. His speech was followed by the moving account of one man’s struggle with homelessness. Ken became homeless aged 55, having worked hard his whole life, and spoke of the abhorrent conditions endured by people in his position at the hands of a neglectful state. Barrister Una McGuirk gave a legal insight into the anti-lockdown movement, and highlighted what she saw as corruption between the medical establishment and big pharmaceutical companies in vaccination development.
Perhaps the most celebrated speaker was Professor Dolores Cahill of UCD, one of Ireland’s leading immunologists with decades of experience advising governments on a European level. With her speech themed ‘Truth and Freedom’, the scientist highlighted the use of hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment to all coronaviruses including Covid-19.
She urged the crowds to right to their local medical bodies and GPs demanding its use in treatment. Cahill continued to address her belief that children should not be forced to receive vaccinations, and that an ‘entire generation’ of young people will be left with anxiety and depression due to the conditions of lockdown.
After the rally the mood was relaxed and the crowds gradually began to disperse. It became clear that, while at its heart the event was against lockdowns and restrictions, the protest can also be seen as a historical step in creating a new type of grassroots politics in Ireland.
Speaker Ben Gilroy called for a ‘great reset’ of the corrupt political, financial, and legal systems which dominate our society. From the myriad of problems facing Ireland, and with even more issues sure to be wrought by an impending recession, an increasing number of people might agree with this sentiment.
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