Activists are facing a legal crackdown against protest actions, reports Francis Donohoe.
A growing number of left-wing elected representatives are facing charges in relation to protests in support of a variety of causes including opposition to the water charges, in support of workers’ rights and against the US military’s use of Shannon Airport.
The anti-water charges campaign has seen the largest number of protest-related arrests and charges. Over 190 people have been arrested in relation to anti-water charge protests since November 2014 in a crackdown which has seen charges brought against several elected representatives.
Among those facing court appearances in relation to the anti-water charges campaign are Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA) TD Paul Murphy, United Left Alliance TD Joan Collins and AAA councillors Kieran Mahon and Mick Murphy.
Murphy and the two AAA councillors were charged, along with 24 other activists, in relation to a protest against the visit of Tánaiste Joan Burton to Jobstown in Tallaght, south Dublin in November 2014. Collins is facing public order charges, along with 11 other activists, in connection with a separate anti-water charges protest in Crumlin, south Dublin, in April 2015.
Murphy has described the arrests as part of a wider phenomenon of “political policing” by the gardaí. He describes it as policing “with the aim of protecting the interests of the establishment in this state, and with a political mind. It doesn’t mean it has to be a political person [directing it]. But in a sense the top of the gardaí are well able to make decisions in the interests of the establishment, or not.”
Murphy has also highlighted the Garda refusal to issue collection permits to local AAA campaign groups. In one incident, Chief Superintendent Orla McPartlin defended her action in a letter to the AAA, stating: “The collection permit has been refused because I believe that the proceeds of the collection or a portion thereof would be used to facilitate protests sponsored by the Anti Austerity Alliance. I believe any further protests within my division would see further public order offences being committed.”
In October, in response to a Dáil question from Murphy, the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald confirmed the existence of a specific anti-water charges Garda operation codenamed ‘Operation Mizen’.
She said the operation was established by the National Coordination Office “to provide policing responses to maintain public order and to ensure the safety of all those involved in protests against water charges”. She said one of the avenues used by this team was “open source information”, which was generally available on the internet and social media.
Fitzgerald claimed that Operation Mizen “does not engage in technical surveillance or lawful interception and that no public representative or member of the public is subject to such surveillance”.
The revelation that a special Garda unit of 25 officers has been formed in Cork to focus on anti-water protests was strongly condemned by Workers’ Party Councillor, Ted Tynan, who is a member of the Cork City Council Policing Forum.
“The reality is that there has been no trouble at any water protest in Cork”, he said, “Any stand-off that has occurred has been the result of a handful of overzealous water contractors shouting the odds at peaceful water protesters or in some cases by a few gung-ho gardaí who have disturbed the peace by coming in heavy-handed where there has been no trouble.”
He added: “I would like to know where these gardaí are being taken from. A 25-member unit for a small area like Cork city replicated across the state would mean up to 500 gardaí diverted into enforcing water metering at the behest of a utility that is on borrowed time.”
Action in support of the workers locked out by Greyhound Recycling in the summer of 2014 has resulted in the charging of Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin Cieran Perry with public order offences which could result in a six month jail sentence.
Prior to his first court appearance in relation to the charges in October, Perry said: “I am suspicious that a week after I publicly questioned gardaí about a lack of policing in the Cabra area, at a contentious North West Joint Policing Committee meeting, a year-old summons is delivered to my home.
“I also ask how come gardaí have the resources to prosecute a community activist, such as myself, when they don’t appear to have the resources to tackle drug dealers and thugs in my area? The targeting of political activists appears to be happening all over the city.”
Meanwhile, TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace face possible jail sentences for refusing to pay a fine imposed on them for breaching security at Shannon Airport to highlight its use as a stop off point for US military arms shipments to the Middle East.
Wallace told the Dáil in October: “Deputy Clare Daly and I had three days in court in Ennis recently. Witnesses came forward who were working in Shannon to testify they saw arms on military planes which is illegal. Still our Government does not want to look into this. The judge accepted the bona fides of the testimonies of these individuals. He ended up fining us in the end, which was irrational given his own arguments but that is a different issue.”
