A people's assembly and protest at the Dail - Indymedia Ireland

A people's assembly and protest at the Dail - Indymedia Ireland:

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Irish Blog: ORANGE ORDER FREE PUSSY RIOT CHURCH PROTEST RICHARD HAASS

Irish Blog: ORANGE ORDER FREE PUSSY RIOT CHURCH PROTEST RICHARD HAASS:

'via Blog this'

100, 000+ Thousand March Against Austerity Ireland

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions,which organized the rallies, claimed more than 100,000 people attended, with 60,000 marching in Dublin. Demonstrators also protested in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford.

Union’s General Secretary David Begg suggested that the campaign against the debt will carry on until the European authorities honour the agreement to separate bank debt from sovereign debt.

"It would be fatal for people to believe this issue is now resolved and we can all move on," David Begg said. "At the onset of the crisis Ireland had one of the lowest debt to GDP ratios in Europe. The difference between then and now is due entirely to Ireland socializing bank debt at the behest of the ECB, to save the European banking system."

I've no confidence at all in the deal, it won't make any difference to ordinary people," said Alfie Murray who marching in Dublin with his 8-year-old grandson. "It's the next generation that'll shoulder the cost," he said.

Financial expert Marco Pietropoli explained that Irish per capita a far bigger bill than other countries. "Therefore they are suffering a great deal more.”

Pietropoli says that Ireland's situation is one of the most difficult in the EU and that Dublin's holding of the bloc's presidency isn't likely to make things any better.

“I don’t think the Irish with the presidency are necessarily going to be able to exert much pressure or much influence to actually change the situation in Europe, because the power remains with the Germans.”

Image from twitter user‏@kierfoley

Image from twitter user‏@gribers

Image from twitter user‏@Darren606

Con O'Driscoll

When we got to Cooke Street it was quarter past two having parked up in Thomas Street. Cooke Street was still packed with marchers end to end, AGSI lining up at the Christchurch end, Sinn Fein in the middle and the Communist Party of Ireland with a load of Belfast Trades who'd been decent enough to come down at the St Audoen's end. So me and. Y kids marched with the AGSI figuring if any hassle started that was likely the safest place to be. And because my family's got a load of guards past and present. In fact walking down by Dublin Castle I met my cousin who's a detective wearing his blue AGSI vest and I said to him "Yer grandad would be proud of ya" and he said "tis the first protest Ive attended without being paid to" and I said something like "Never too late to mend yer ways" and we had a laugh and a chat all down Dame Street. Very well mannered crowds the COPter overhead had nothing to report save overly conservative estimates as to numbers. If they'd kicked off at 1330 and were still leaving Cooke Street an hour later and were marching anything up to ten and twelve abreast someone do the math. Ended up in Merrion Square and the Union poobahs were making their speeches and I decided I'd heard what they had to say five years ago the last time or maybe four the last time Id been on a Mach like this. It Eas just as good tempered then too. Asides from the occasional Trot in Army Bargains surplus shouting at street corners about the property tax and the need for a national strike to show EUrope who's boss I saw no real anger. Reasonableness yes. Annoyance yes. Worry yes. No anger though. Wonder how long that'll last hopefully awhile yet. Wonder will AGSI great people for all they do to keep us safe will march again when things are less even tempered. If things are less even tempered I hope.

Kyerin

My mother was at the Dublin protest and she reckoned there were around 50,000 people there. When the first protesters arrived at Merrion Square her group had not even left Cook St. and they were not the last group either. She also felt the RTE coverage didn't give anything like an accurate picture of the amount of people there, in fact she was pretty disgusted with it.

Marty Carr

I thought protest meant riots.... when did the meaning of protests change!!!!

As for David Begg and the leaders of the Unions, you only have to check their salarys to know that they are not their for you, if you want to protest give up your union memebership and start your own amongst yourselves that has proper morals, for example the leadership cannot earn over the average industrial wage, and also is not allow to take salaries from multliple board memeberships like Begg has, sure he is complicit in the mess we are in.

Hanger on society we have!!!! its so depressing, thats why there are no new ideas!!!

Provisional Sinn fein

February 9th, 2013 - Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD

Sinn Féin respresentatives and activists were out in force to support ICTU’s anti-austerity rally today in Dublin.

Speaking after the event party spokesperson on social protection Aengus Ó Snodaigh said:

“We in Sinn Féin are proud to have supported ICTU’s ‘lift the burden’ rally today in Dublin.

“This week the government had an historic opportunity to secure a real reduction in the cost of the toxic banking debt foisted on the people by Fianna Fáil. Not only have Fine Gael and Labour wasted that opportunity, they have increased the cost of that burden for decades to come.

“The so-called deal will mean nothing to the families who are struggling to make ends meet. It will mean nothing to the mother who cannot put food on the table, to the father losing all hope of finding work, the family who have to wave goodbye to their loved ones at Dublin airport.

“The government is still pressing ahead with plans for water charges and a property tax – measures which will place even more of a burden on hard-pressed families.

“These issues and more made today’s rally all the more important.

“I hope that this will be the start of many popular demonstrations against the government’s reckless mismanagement of the economy.

“The message today was ‘lift the burden’ – I am calling on the government to listen to that message and realise that citizens cannot take anymore. We need a change of direction; we need a better fairer way.”

According to the SWP

"The energy to take resistance forward to a point where the country is shut down for a day will probably come from wider social movements – as occurred in Spain.

A national day of civil disobedience can bring together the growing movement against austerity and the increasing opposition to the waste of public money for these insane gambling debts.

This would involve walk outs from colleges, schools, workplaces as well as occupations and sit downs on roads.

Promoting and make concrete such a call should be a key task over the coming weeks. The government thinks it can contain demonstrations and marches such as we’ve seen so far so we need something different.

In the longer run, the power to terrify the political establishment lies in the workplaces and so the call for a national day of action must be part of a wider process of encouraging workers to use their industrial muscle to bring change.

In July 2013, for example, PAYE workers will face the prospect of their wage packets being raided once again by the Revenue Commissioners to collect the notorious property tax.

The more the movement builds up now to civil disobedience, the more likely it is that that grassroots of the union will remove or byepass that thin crust of union leaders whose primary loyalty is to the Labour Party when they see the effects of the property charge.

There can be a general stoppage in Ireland – but it won’t come without effort.

London 2012 Tortures and Censors Human Rights

WikiLeaks
Mirror Sites

Most leading British journalists with experience in Ireland, have come to believe that the ongoing conflict in British Occupied Ireland is political and not religious and that its origins lie in the conquest of Ireland by England with the subsequent establishment of a colony on the basis of a Protestant headcount in Ulster to keep the province secure for the Crown. They have realized that the conflict stems from the partition of the country almost a hundred years ago, an artificial division, designed to be temporary, engineered by the British to guarantee Protestant  dominance,supremacy and privilege, in the remaining six counties of Ulster. These journalists realize that the price is what t

he British Army’s senior counter-insurgency expert, Brigadier Frank Kitson, wrote  : ‘The real difficulty lies in the political price which a democratic country pays in order to influence the ways in which its people think.’ 

The publication of the European Commission report concluding that Britain had been guilty of torture in Northern Ireland, was preceded then by the then British Secretary of Occupied Ireland and his officials calling several newspaper along with TV editors into his Whitehall offices for drinks to chat about what was to be published in the report, with the result of almost every British newspaper carrying identical editorials on the day of the report’s publication. Editorial leaders diverting attention away from a guilty verdict and suggesting that the Irish Government was wrong to raise the issue.

British Headlines screamed; REES LASHES DUBLIN OVER TORTURE REPORT, Times, ANGRY REES ATTACK AS DUBLIN CHARGE OF TORTURE IS UPHELD: Daily Telegraph,REES ANGRY AS EIRE PRESSES TORTURE ISSUE,  Sun,TORTURE TURMOIL, BRITAIN LASHES BACK OVER THE GUILTY VERDICT, Financial Times, IRISH PERSISTANCE ANGERS UK, Mirror, REES IN STORM OVER TORTURE.

The last means of redress that does not include violence, left to Irish people in British Occupied Ireland is publicity. There has never been in the last 40 odd years proper procedure for the hearing of complaints regarding violations of human rights and murder by the British army, paramilitary police, state sponsored assassination forces, with torture and brutality in interrogation centres, internment without trial, solitary confinement and excessive punishment in prison. It is absolutely clear that sanction for these ongoing violations of human rights come from the British Government. It still uses the law and counter-terrorism as part of its ongoing war effort against a defenceless  civilian people. In short, Irish people have been wasting their time for 800 years asking the very people responsible for human right violations against them to hear their complaints and grant justice.


The British Government has exercised great pressure at home and abroad to distort the truth, about British Occupied Ireland portraying their case as being honest peacemakers caught in the middle of a sectarian war between Catholics and Protestants, while censoring the fact that they have sponsored division, sectarianism and murder as they have always done throughout their former colonies, with their tactic of divide and conquer. When they murder civilians directly or indirectly they always get their story to the media first and almost exclusively, such as, they were fired on first, or their murdered victim was carrying a weapon, etc.,etc. British media usually accepts their military or paramilitary police spokespersons. THE BIG BRITISH LIE is often the most painful things the Irish people suffer who experience the actual truth. The British military version is what the people in charge of British media want themselves, so they do not seek out the truth.

When Internment without trial was introduced in British Occupied Ireland 40 years ago, the leading nationalist party of that time, the SDLP took a principled stand and resigned from Stormont, "the sectarian parliament for a sectarian people," as boasted by Unionist leaders. The British then flew leading Provos who were interned in Long Kesh concentration camp, to talks in London which came up with an agreement that was eventually called the Good Friday Agreement. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness who led those talks, were vetoed by their republican leadership. The British then mentored them into the ascendancy within the republican movement, promising the a media platform instead of the armed struggle. Unfortunately that media platform was used instead for personal promotion and careerism rather than righting the considerable injustices of statelet set up strcitly on a sectarian headcount of  British planted colonialists.

Britain has now once again broken the terms of the peace agreement and is again interning political activists who oppose the British Occupation in Ireland, whether they support armed struggle or oppose it. One of those interned is Marian Price who has been tortured now in solitary confinement for more than year. The British refuse to allow UN monitors into the prison to independently research exactly what is happening. Marian Price now a mature woman with considerable years of political activity on behalf of Sinn Fein is in both physical and psychological daily agony but the British agents who have infiltrated Sinn Fein have abandoned her.

When Britain introduced internment 40 years ago their sensory deprivation techniques of subjecting the interned Irish to noise, deprivation of sleep, along with deprivation of food and drink were investigated by the European Court of Human Rights. In a trial "Ireland v. the United Kingdom,"  the European Court  in Strasbourg ruled that the techniques amounted to torture.

In response to the public and Parliamentary disquiet on 16 November 1971, the British Government commissioned a committee of inquiry chaired by Lord Parker, the Lord Chief Justice of England to look into the legal and moral aspects of the use of "Sensory Deprivation."
The "Parker Report"was published on 2 March 1972, and found the techniques of "Sensory Deprivation"  to be illegal under domestic law:

10. Domestic Law ...(c) We have received both written and oral representations from many legal bodies and individual lawyers from both England and Northern Ireland. There has been no dissent from the view that the procedures are illegal alike by the law of England and the law of Northern Ireland. ... (d) This being so, no Army Directive and no Minister could lawfully or validly have authorized the use of the procedures. Only Parliament can alter the law. The procedures were and are illegal.
On the same day  the Prime Minister Edward Heath stated in the House of Commons:

The Government, having reviewed the whole matter with great care and with reference to any future operations, have decided that the techniques...The statement that I have made covers all future circumstances.
"As foreshadowed in the Prime Minister's statement, directives expressly prohibiting the use of the techniques, whether singly or in combination, were then issued to the security forces by the Government."[3] These are still in force and the use of such methods by UK security forces would not be condoned by the Government.

A United Nations expert on torture has already called on Britain and all countries to ban the solitary confinement of prisoners except in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible, with an absolute prohibition in the case of juveniles and people with mental disabilities.

“Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit… whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique,” UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez told the General Assembly’s third committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural affairs, saying the practice could amount to torture.Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit… whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique

“Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system,” he stressed in presenting his first interim report on the practice, calling it global in nature and subject to widespread abuse.

Indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should also be subject to an absolute prohibition, he added, citing scientific studies that have established that some lasting mental damage is caused after a few days of social isolation.

“Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment when used as a punishment, during pre-trial detention, indefinitely or for a prolonged period, for persons with mental disabilities or juveniles,” he warned.

The practice should be used only in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible, he stressed. “In the exceptional circumstances in which its use is legitimate, procedural safeguards must be followed. I urge States to apply a set of guiding principles when using solitary confinement,” he said.

He warned of an increased risk of torture in these cases because of the absence of witnesses and said some detainees have been held in solitary confinement facilities for years, without any charge and without trial, as well as in secret detention centres.

“Social isolation is one of the harmful elements of solitary confinement and its main objective. It reduces meaningful social contact to an absolute minimum,” Mr. Méndez told the committee, noting that a significant number of individuals will experience serious health problems regardless of specific conditions of time, place, and pre-existing personal factors.


One of the interned, Marian Price has now been interned for more than a year of solitary confinement, was force fed by the British for 6 months as political prisoner of conscience. The Queen ordered her release many years ago with an unconditional pardon witnessed by the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, which the British now say they have lost or shredded, without conducting any investigation. Two judges have already ordered her release based on the same evidence as and unelected Englishman overuling everyone in Ireland, including the judiciary and his own Queen on the matter. It is generally accepted that his motives are bigoted and personal as he is a close ally of certain sectarian unionists, whom he in the process of co-opting into his British Tory party, along with most of the elite horsey set of fox hunting Tories in British Occupied Ireland.

For the above reasons we ask those who care about human rights, peace and justice to protest at the Olympic Games in London 2012 is the same way that the hypocrites of the British Government protested the Olympic Games in Beijing !

THAILAND'S BLOODY SUNDAY IRISH CONNECTION

Thousands of people stop and listen attentively to the Irish-born Aussie ``military'' man as he reads his speeches, which are immediately translated into Thai.

“The criminality on that day was very similar to Bloody Sunday in Ireland, it was an insult to any soldier, it was an insult to any rules of engagement, it was an insult to any manly sense of honour that they tear-gassed a crowd of monks and businessmen.'' Conor Purcell

Mr Purcell says he became "radicalised'' and "very angry'' at the Thai government, after what he witnessed during the April 10 fighting, which left 25 people dead.

He says he was injured by two silicon-coated bullets while trying to shelter behind an APC secured by the reds and now has a ``dirty wound'' which cannot be stitched and has to be treated with antibiotics.

In his latest speech he asked the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Bangkok to the International Criminal Court and for the court to investigate the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation.

Mr Purcell says that when the protests are over he plans to continue his attempts to set up a charity here.

26 People Died and over a Thousand were injured as a result of the attack on the 10 April in Bangkok Thailand, according to Thai Government figures which still have to be verified. Like Bloody Sunday in Ireland the Thai attack AS in Ireland was ordered by A British born, Eton educated, military installed Prime minister, in this instance called Abhisit.

THAILAND ARMY CHIEF TAKES OVER IN CENSORED SILENT COUP

LINK TO THAILAND ARMY CHIEF TAKES OVER IN CENSORED SILENT COUP

Thailand Voices in the Shadow of Another Military Bloodbath

The Thai Government and military are preparing for another attack on the protesters in Bangkok, Thailand. Their spin doctors are in overdrive preparing the Thai people for another atrocity and have labelled the protesters as terrorists, to legitimize and sanitize another bloodbath.


The Protest site has been designated a danger zone, due to the stockpile of weapons and the "terrorists" congregated in the area claimed Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd yesterday.


He said rally organisers admitted, they were supported by "unidentified warriors", who were ready to resort to violence, in order to counter-attack the Army's forces. Last Saturday a number of weapons were stolen from soldiers and might end up inflicting casualties in another round of violence, he added. He said the authorities were trying to restore normality by dislodging the Reds from the Rajprasong area and that they were now prepared to deal with live ammunition fired by the "terrorists" from the red shirts' side.


"Please rest assured that the law will definitely be enforced, in any operations, soldiers and policemen will try to avoid losses or, if that is not possible, to contain the losses within acceptable limits," he added. He said police were preparing to enforce arrest warrants issued against 24 red-shirt leaders.


Natthawut Saikua, one of the 24, said the red shirts were preparing a "welcoming party" if the government cracked down on protesters. "I confirm the red shirts will not waver if the government is to launch a new round of anti-riot operations early next week," he said, adding that the red shirts would not disperse before the dissolution of Parliament.

Red-shirt chief security officer Aree Krainara said he had doubled the number of guards to protect the leaders and the rally site.

Opposition Party political spokesman Prompong Nopparit led surviving relatives of what he said were 30 dead victims to file a police complaint charging the prime minister and other authorities with murder related to last Saturday's "bloodbath".

Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan has said the funeral for the victims would be postponed until the completion of legal proceedings. Under Thai law, the bodies must be kept, pending the completion of an investigation into the killings, he said, vowing to bring culprits to justice before the expiry of the statue of limitations in 20 years. He said the red shirts would start 900 legal cases related to Black Saturdays bloodbath.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the Prime Minister has no intention of resigning or dissolving Parliament, to pave the way for a new election. He maintained doing so would damage the country long term.

"If the government still wants to re-take this area, we can do nothing except wait. We have overcome fear. Nothing can scare us anymore," said red-shirt leader, Nattawut Saikuar.


Pressure is still mounting on Thailand's government to stand down with 23 people now dead. The head of the Thai army has called for parliament to be dissolved. The country's election commission says Prime Minister Abhisit's party can be charged with misusing donations.



People in Bangkok Talk



Daung , Bangkok

My husband and I were at the demonstration on Saturday. I had not supported the red-shirt movement before then.

My husband said the soldier's gun had live rounds because there was no adaptor on the barrel
But after the government shut down the People TV station, we were only seeing the government's side of the story on their own channel, so we went to see what was happening. It was peaceful for hours before the trouble started. The soldiers had been sweating in the afternoon sun so we gave them some of our water. We were in the front line.

A helicopter dropped the first tear gas at about 1700, then about two hours later they dropped more. Even with a damp cloth over my face it hurt, especially because I wear contact lenses.
At about 1930 the troops started walking forward. My husband saw one soldier who was on the tank unlock an M16 gun. My husband said the weapon had live rounds because there was no adaptor on the barrel.
Some media reports said the red-shirts had guns too, but it's not true. The soldiers started hitting us, my husband was fighting back.
I saw many people lying on the ground, some were bloody, some were in shock from the tear gas. I had to leave when the tear gas got too much.
I didn't join the red-shirt demonstration to support Thaksin; I joined because I don't like the Democracy Party.I think we should have new elections, but I think the government will try to hold onto power instead.
If the red-shirts choose violence I will not support them any more. We joined them because they are fighting peacefully.


Ekasit Paosila, Bangkok


The news on the ruling party's illegal donations means parliament may have to be dissolved.
I'm not pleased about this. There is no one better qualified to rule than Prime Minister Abhisit; I support him totally. I would rather parliament stayed as it is. The red-shirt mob are causing a lot of problems; they behave as if they own Bangkok.

They always claim to be peaceful and say any bomb-throwing or gun-firing etc is done by someone else.
The weekend events were totally unexpected. I think the protesters were expecting rubber bullets, but the soldiers were certainly not prepared to receive live ammunition.

There is talk about a third party being involved. There is video showing men wearing black with their faces covered carrying machine guns. They were firing from the mob, we presume at the soldiers. Of the 23 people killed, five were soldiers, but many more soldiers are seriously injured in hospital. At the same time, there may have been some people against the red-shirt mob, who were firing from rooftops. I think the majority of people in Bangkok are against these red-shirt gatherings, but I don't know how many would come forward to say so. They are typically non-committal.


Polkrit Thanetjindarat, student, Bangkok

I have supported the red-shirts for three years and am convinced that they fight for real democracy and not just for Thaksin.I support them because the government does not support democracy, Thailand is like a military state now. We would like to see parliament dissolved, and power given back to the people so they can choose their own government by themselves.
Will this happen? I think the government will hold onto power for as long as they can, because they know that if they hold an election, they will lose. It's like they don't dare to listen to the people's voice.

Press and media are controlled by the government; they say the government and the military is right and they don't report how many people died at the weekend. I know 23 people died because I saw this on a private TV station, not the government one. The protesters have the right to protest, but the soldiers have no right to use a gun, even when they're angry. And the government should know not to let them.



Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he had issued orders for soldiers to be equipped only with shields, batons and tear gas.

"They were unarmed, so some of them were killed," he said.

This conflicts with reports from several reporters who witnessed the atrocity including a BBC journalist who saw soldiers carrying and shooting high velocity guns.

Underneath the propaganda war the bigger picture of the military's defeat and stress is now a major factor.

"There are some divisions in the armed forces," said Prof Surachart Bumrungsuk, a military and politics expert at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "Some units don't want to be involved in such a crackdown, others wanted it to be more assertive.


Human Rights Watch urged the Thai government to keep its promise to set up an independent commission to investigate last weekend's atrocity. Five soldiers and 18 civilians including a Japanese Reuter's cameraman were killed.

All parties should immediately cease political violence, the group said, and the government should hold those responsible accountable. It also called for an end to censorship of a satellite television station, more than 10 radio and television stations, and 36 internet sites.

BANGKOK TO BELFAST ATROCITIES MANAGED BY THE RIFLES OF ETON

LINK BANGKOK TO BELFAST ATROCITIES MANAGED BY THE RIFLES OF ETON

BLOOD AND REVOLUTION ON THAILAND'S STREETS

LINK TO REPORT

REDS FIGHT BACK AND TAKE CONTROL IN THAILAND

REDS FIGHT BACK AND TAKE CONTROL IN THAILAND LINK

Westminster Cathedral Protest Calls for Pope's Resignation

Protesters outside the principal Catholic church in Britain today called for the Pope's resignation over the Church's sex abuse. They carried placards saying, Sex Abuse Cover Up - Pope Must Resign' ,  'Pope Protects Paedophile Priests. Demonstrators confronted the congregation of Catholics, as they left Westminster Cathedral. They claim that Pope Benedict XVI was involved in hiding priests accused of child rape and sex abuse from prosecution.

Many object to the pontiff's planned state visit to Britain in September, while Catholics fear he will be shot or assassinated because of the depth of the anger. Human rights activist Peter Tatchell was among the demonstrators. He said that the Pope 'bears personal responsibility for the cover up'.

Catholics now fear many people will protest when the Pope arrives for a state visit in September. The Archbishop of Westminster,  yesterday said in a defiant response: 'The Pope won't resign".

The Pontiff's Sunday address today was the beginning of Holy Week, the Roman Catholic's Church's special seven days which culminate with Easter Sunday. In preaching today, he spoke of how man can sometimes 'fall to the lowest, vulgar levels' and 'sink into the swamp of sin and dishonesty', which people say is a bit rich coming from someone involved in cover up of child rape.

 In the last few days the Pope has himself been accused in the scandals, with claims that he knew about Father Lawrence Murphy, an American paedophile priest, along with a German, Father Peter Hullerman. Both cases the Vatican has denied cover ups, despite considerable evidence against the Pontiff. The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano says, the abuse allegations were part of an 'ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict XVI and his closest collaborators at any cost'.