Gardai face civil cases on march assault claims

MORE THAN 10 people are taking civil cases against gardaí for alleged assault and unlawful arrest arising out of last May’s Reclaim the Streets march in Dublin.

Sources yesterday confirmed that at least 10 people who attended the march on May 6 were taking civil actions against members of the force. Several people have already lodged papers in the courts.

“This yet again very much emphasises the need for a complaints system like there is in Northern Ireland,” said Liam Herrick of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

“In the absence of an independent investigation mechanism, people will use more costly and unsatisfactory means of address, such as civil case.

The claimants will allege they were assaulted or unlawfully arrested by gardaí during the anti-car and anti-globalisation demonstration.

Some 20 protestors were initially charged in relation to alleged offences during the rally, including public order offences and charges of assaulting gardaí.

Cases against nine of these protestors have since been dropped.

Last week, it emerged that the amount paid out to civilians who claimed they were either assaulted or unlawfully arrested by gardaí had doubled in the last five years.

For alleged assaults alone the amount paid out almost increased four-fold, from €76,452 to €369,734.

In all, 6m was paid to civilians between 1997 and 2001, although over half of it went on legal costs.

Labour Party justice spokesman Joe Costello said that as the vast majority of cases were settled out of court, out of the public’s eye, the scale of the problem was far greater than had been thought.

Protestors’ plans to sue the State follows unprecedented criticism of gardaí covering the march by the Garda Complaints Board.

Last month, the garda watchdog criticised 125 members of the force for failing to cooperate with their investigation into the rally.

The board said none of the gardaí were willing to identify their colleagues who were there on the day.

However, it emerged that, under the law, gardaí were not obliged to co-operate with the inquiry.

The board has since written to 10 gardaí regarding alleged breaches of discipline, an offence where gardaí are obliged to cooperate.

Up to 30 gardai could face disciplinary charges.

An internal garda investigation, led by Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey, into the rally separately resulted in seven officers being charged with assault.

A further internal garda inquiry is underway into the management of gardaí at the rally.