Riot police re-impose uneasy order on the streets

EVENTS appeared to be slipping from the Government’s control at an alarming rate.

Blood-red protests rapidly replaced the suddenly quaint-looking red paint variety that hit Mary Harney as the roads around the Dáil compound teemed with student demonstrators while riot police unleashed batons to clear them.

The message from the High Court was just as defiant as the one from the streets as the Government was accused of “offending” the Constitution with its refusal to hold by-elections — and all the while the bond market sharks circled the state menacingly once more, sending borrowing rates to yet new highs.