Why treat anti-war protesters like criminals?

RECENTLY I joined a peace demonstration at Shannon. The demonstrators were just like me — ordinary people of all ages who disagree with the use of a civilian airport in Ireland by a belligerent foreign power.

What outraged us was the massive presence of gardaí. When I returned home to Cork the same night, drunken crowds were stumbling across the streets causing the usual weekend havoc and disrupting traffic.

I didn’t see a single garda there, just as I never see gardaí protecting the city’s No 2 bus from the stones frequently thrown at it.