Protester ‘considering complaint’ after Garda scuffle
The photographs, taken on Sunday, appear to show a protester being pulled to the ground by gardaí, including one officer not in official uniform.
The protester could not be contacted last night but, according to one source in the Shell to Sea campaign, the man is considering making an official complaint about the incident, which occurred at Pollathomas near Rossport.
It is understood he was taking notes on the tripod protest that was under way at the time, during which a bridge was blocked, thereby obstructing the transporting of a crane.
He was removed from the scene, ending up on the other side of a wire fence, before a tug-of-war ensued between the protester and a garda over his notebook.
It appears that he had the book returned to him, before he was grabbed and taken to the ground by the officers, including the plainclothes officer. The Garda press office said last night that it could not comment on individual incidents or arrests.
However, a spokesman said that the involvement of a plainclothes officer was not unusual.
The spokesman said some officers in the force were not required to wear their official numbers or badges, as long as they communicated who they were while effecting an arrest.
It is understood the man featured in the photographs was one of nine people arrested. The nine people appeared in court yesterday and seven were remanded in jail.
There has been a significant security presence in the area in recent times, blocking protesters from making it down to the beach, while gardaí are maintaining a 500m exclusion zone around the operation site.
The world’s largest pipe-laying vessel, the Solitaire, is docked off the coast at Broadhaven as part of work on the pipeline.
Meanwhile, a protest was staged last night outside Mountjoy Prison in Dublin where four women were being held pending a court hearing on Friday for public order offences.
