Garda smash glass door in woman's face protesting against water charges at Fingal Co Co

dublin | bin tax / household tax / water tax | news report

Tuesday April 14, 2015 00:15

by Solidarity Times - Solidarity Times - Free the Media, Be the Media

Garda action benefits companies that plan to buy Irish Water by crushing resistance

Garda have attacked an occupation of Fingal council offices by water charges protesters causing injuries like the one pictured.

We understand these happened when the Garda smashed a plate glass door in on top of the protesters who were occupying the entrance.

According to one of those attacked posting to the Balbriggan page "Garda have attached 3 of us and shattered the fingal county council office doors on top of us picture to follow. If you listen to the video u will hear the glass crashing on top of us" The video is at https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=633082310156899

You can hear the women warning that Garda that they are going to break the glass door and hurt them right before the Garda smash the door in on top of them. You can also see one of the Garda appear to try and kick a women in the side through the partly open door.

After the injuries the women are heard asking for an ambulance with the Garda not responding apart from telling them to move.

This video taken just before the attack took place demonstrates the positive nature of the protest before the Garda intervened https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1574158919491276&s...35294

Garda Attack on Fingal County Council Occupation
The video aove bcomprises 3 different videos depicting a protest at Fingal County Council offices, including Gardaí smashing a plate glass door onto protesters occupying the entrance.

It is important to remember how other events have been handled. Will any Gardaí be punished for this? Will there be almost 2 dozen dawn raids as a result of this? Will there be rolling coverage on RTE and Newstalk, and streams of articles from the Independent and Irish Times?

Will this, for instance, get the same attention as did the story of a TD's constituency office being threatened 7 years previously, when this was repeated a few months ago?

Will this be denounced as an 'attack on democracy' by various establishment figures and journalists?

The real question is whether they will choose to ignore this story, or malign the protesters as rabble rousers, asking for trouble. If anything, the protesters will be blamed for an attack on democracy.

The Irish Times has already spun the story according to this angle: 'Fingal has spent €33,000 on security for staff and councillors since February 2013, when anti-property tax protesters attempted to occupy the council chamber.' A whole €33,000 keeping people out of a supposedly democratic institution so they can't protest their living standards being gutted. Will someone please think of the glass windows?

Events like this clearly demonstrate that the mainstream media are not objective, or unbiased, as they purport to be. But more specifically, and importantly, it shows they are - by and large, there are always some token exceptions - dedicated to the side of the powerful. Of course this is not news to anyone following the movement against the water charges, but it needs to be said every time lest we become inured to this rotten fact.

In the video, you can hear the women warning the Gardaí that they are going to break the glass door and hurt them right before the Gardaí smash the door in on top of them. You can also see one of the Garda appear to try and kick a women in the side through the partly open door.

After the injuries the women are heard asking for an ambulance with the Gardaí not responding apart from telling them to move.

Caption: Video Id: 6caLiSUoU-M Type: Youtube Video
Youtube version of video on facebook

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Comments (2 of 2)

What Water privatisation looks like: Detroit begins new round of water shutoffs...

by anon

Tue May 12, 2015 22:01

When the state isnt beating protestors and selling of public assets to their capitalists backers, it will standby when those assets are sold off and then denied to the public.

In a good example of what privatisation of our water will look like, the city of Detroit in USA has begun a new round of water shutoffs as reported over on wsws.org

Detroit begins new round of water shutoffs

The city of Detroit began a new round of water shutoffs Monday, hanging shutoff notices on the doors of hundreds of residents who are unable to pay their water bills. As many as 25,000 households, or one in ten in the city, are threatened with losing one of the most basic necessities of life

Residents who are two months behind on their bills or owe more than $150 will receive shutoff notices. They will be allowed only 10 days to apply for a payment plan or pay their bills before their water is turned off.

Last year the city carried out tens of thousands of shutoffs, prompting worldwide condemnation, including from the United Nations, which called the water shutoffs a human rights violation. The city had temporarily suspended water shutoffs over the winter, as freezing temperatures made the procedure impracticable.

The city has already begun shutting off water to accounts that it claims are illegal, of which there are some 8,000.

Residents visiting the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) payment center on the city’s west side said that the department has been sending shutoff notices for weeks before the official resumption of shutoffs, prompting workers to scramble to catch up on their water bills

For many, this means falling behind on other bills. “You’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Charlene Paris, a full-time caregiver for her disabled daughter. Charlene had to borrow money to even sign up for a payment plan to keep her water from being shut off....
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Full text at link below

Another water meter protestor jailed.

by BeTheMedia

Thu May 21, 2015 23:27

O'Connell at bridge has been blocked by water charge protesters demanding the release of Stephen Bennett who was remanded yesterday for a week for resisting the installation of water meters

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Garda smash glass door in woman's face protesting against water charges at Fingal Co Co

Comments (2 of 2)