Irish Examiner view: Paying price for 'peaceful' protesting

Protesters are detained by police during day three of the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool.

In the seminal book A Clockwork Orange the young thug Alex, who has an obsessive taste for “ultra-violence”, is subjected by the state to an extreme form of aversion therapy. The idea is to forcibly reform him so he can return to take his place among fellow citizens without causing further harm.

The dystopian novel is presented as a parable between free choice and the collective rights of society. But what is often forgotten is that the government is keen on the mind-controlling “Ludivico Technique” because of economic necessity. 

There are so many political prisoners protesting against aspects of the regime that the authorities need to free prison cell space rather than fritter it away on “ordinary” criminals.

The “right to protest” can be a tricky concept, and general support for it is frequently influenced by prevailing perspective and sentiment. 

In Ireland, people have a right to protest peacefully in public places as long as they do not break laws such as trespass, threatening behaviour, or inciting hatred.

Much depends on the cause. There was uproar nearly a decade ago when the Irish activist, Margaretta D’Arcy, was jailed in Limerick prison for three months at the age of 79 over her protests at US military use of Shannon Airport.

The hubbub has been rather less in the case of the evangelical teacher, Enoch Burke, who was first jailed and then punitively fined for refusing to comply with court orders to stay away from the Westmeath school where he taught. He lacks support because there is a general antipathy towards fundamentalism in the country.

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But we live in a clamorous age, and we can expect direct action to increase with people convinced of the justice of their actions. For the Animal Uprising demonstrators who disrupted the Grand National last week, and the Scottish Grand National on Saturday, the end justifies the means.

For the trainer of the ill-fated Hill Sixteen their intervention led to the death of his horse. Meanwhile yesterday’s London Marathon sought assistance from Extinction Rebellion which might be likened to the Rolling Stones asking Hells Angels for security advice before their concert in Altamont.

How to respond to the “right to protest” will become an increasingly complex question. 

Britain, gearing up for a summer of disruption ahead of next month’s coronation, last week imposed heavy jail sentences on Just Stop Oil protestors who brought traffic to a standstill at Dartford Crossing last autumn. 

The judge told the defendants that there was “no blank cheque” for disruption.

Ireland so far has been relatively free of this form of protest. But we should not assume that we do not have our own share of zealots.