Anti-lockdown protests in Dublin passed off peacefully on St Patrick’s Day as gardaí said numbers at the events were much smaller than expected and a major policing operation was put in place to guard key locations.
Last night there was a high visibility Garda presence around Dublin city centre. The streets around the Dáil and Government Buildings, including Merrion Square park, had been blocked off blocked from early morning.
By 8pm on St Patrick’s Day, gardaí said 21 people had been arrested in relation to “different events” in Dublin, including 17 men and four women.
Of those, 14 were brought before Dublin District Court on minor charges. Seven others were released on station bail having been charged with various offences.
Senior Garda officers had been concerned a protest planned for RTÉ's Donnybrook campus in south Dublin in the afternoon may have lead to public disorder, especially in light of disturbances at a protest on Grafton Street two weeks ago.
Gardaí erected crowd control fencing at the two main entrances to the RTÉ campus and took up position on the grounds hours before the protest's scheduled 2pm start. Large numbers of uniform gardaí formed the front line, with Garda public order units and the Garda mounted units also on the campus.
Gardaí also closed Stillorgan Road southbound, with only local access allowed and identification required from anyone on foot.
After the hour-long rally concluded without incident, most of the estimated 150 people present joined another anti-lockdown event in Herbert Park, Ballsbridge, swelling numbers there to about 500.
The vast majority of people at both events were not wearing masks or socially distancing.
Large cheers
At Herbert Park, Professor Dolores Cahill, the chair of the Irish Freedom Party, drew large cheers from the crowd when she said the lockdown was "based on lies".
She said the elderly had been treated like prisoners and warned against mask wearing among children, saying it will starve their brains of oxygen. “Wake up parents. Oxygen is required for your brain to function.”
Barrister Tracy O’Mahony, who is fundraising to challenge the lockdown restrictions, told the crowd to use every loophole to break the 5km rule.
Derry-based medical doctor Dr Anne McCloskey, a former deputy leader of Aontú who resigned from the party over its stance on Covid-19, told the crowd she “cared deeply about the tyranny imposed on this country under the pretence of a health crisis.
“I have been working in the health service from the beginning and I haven’t seen anybody gasping from Covid. What I have seen is people dying of despair and the flu and the normal things that take people from this life.”
Broke away
Later, a group of about 50 protestors then broke away and began marching back to the RTÉ campus, followed by Garda vans, before turning back and heading into the city centre.
They were prevented from going into St Stephen’s Green, which was quickly cleared of people and closed.
There was one arrest as gardaí blocked the group from walking towards Grafton Street.
Earlier, fewer than 100 people showed up outside the GPO in O’Connell Street for an anti-lockdown protest. More than a dozen people who either refused to comply with directions from a garda to follow Covid-19 regulations or who failed to give their names and addresses when asked were arrested. Others who could offer no valid reason for being in the area had their details taken and told they would be issued with fixed charge notices.
A Garda sergeant who was directing the policing of the planned demonstrations repeatedly told officers to first engage and then encourage the small groups and individuals to leave the area.
The approach taken was low key and gardaí were frequently seen engaging in lengthy conversations with protestors and heard encouraging them to walk away to avoid the risk of fines and arrest.
