Gardaí ready for potential anti-mask protest in Dublin

Gardaí say they are ready to respond if an anti-mask protest in Dublin goes ahead today. File Picture: Sam Boal /RollingNews.ie

Gardaí have plans in place for a scheduled anti-mask protest in Dublin this afternoon amid uncertainty as to whether the event is going ahead or not.

Yellow Vest Ireland, a populist movement highly critical of lockdown measures, had arranged a “Time For Action” protest today, describing it as a follow up to its “Time For Change” protest in Dublin on October 3, during which a sit-down was staged on Grafton Street.

Garda intelligence and social media activity suggest limited discussion or promotion of the event in the last week.

Garda sources said it appeared the organisers were thinking of cancelling the event because they were not getting “traction” in terms of numbers interested in attending.

But sources said the situation was “unclear” and that some turnout may still happen and that they were actively “monitoring" the situation.

Earlier this week, YVI posted on their Facebook page the planned Level 5 restrictions and asked people why they were allowing it to happen.

“The only reason a person wouldn't fight for their freedom is if they have already accepted defeat,” the post said. 

“It’s up to you now to stand up for the constitutional rights, freedoms and liberties before they are all but gone. You owe it to your children and the generations to come."

Today’s planned protest follows violent clashes last Saturday week between anti-fascist counter-protestors and the right-wing National Party, which was policed by gardaí.

Previously, the group publicised today’s event and called for public action around what it said was the “dubious science” around masks, testing and lockdowns.

A protest organised by YVI on September 12 saw ugly scenes of intimidation and violence outside the Dáil, when a breakaway group descended on a group of four counter-protestors, three of them female, pushing them down Kildare Street and shouting abuse at them.

A young man wearing a hoodie struck activist Izzy Kamikaze with a large plank of wood wrapped in a tricolour that he was carrying, inflicting a serious head wound.

A garda investigation into that is progressing and detectives are hopeful of sending a file to the DPP soon.

Today’s planned protest follows violent clashes last Saturday week between anti-fascist counter-protestors and the right-wing National Party, which was policed by gardaí.

The National Party held an “End the Lockdown” rally outside the Dáil, attracting less than one hundred people.

The counter-protestors, numbering more than one hundred, included a number of separate dissident republican and socialist groupings.

Last weekend, there was a small ‘anti-mask’ protest in Cork city, at which chairperson of the Irish Freedom Party, Delores Cahill, a professor in UCD, spoke. A small counter-protest was also held.

It is thought the National Party has fallen out with YVI, but other right-wing groups, such as the Donegal-based Síol na hÉireann, was involved in the September 12 protest, leading the demonstration with a prominent “colour party”.

It is not known what event, if any, counter-demonstrators may hold today.

A joint team from Pearse Street Station, on the southside, and Store Street Station, on the northside, operate the response to the protests.

Garda sources said the force’s ability to prepare for these protests is limited because the organisers do not engage with them or give them some idea of estimated numbers attending and the route of their protest.

Garda resources are applied based on the information available, including the presence of the public order unit.

The unit has typically been kept out of sight for recent protests, apart from last Saturday week’s rally when “soft cap” members were deployed at the junction of Kildare Street and Molesworth Street.

Garda investigations are underway into suspected organisers of the protests, as they are the only people that can be charged with a criminal offence.