Gardaí fear they won’t be protected from May Day rioters

UP TO 3,000 frontline gardaí fear they won’t be properly protected if rioters attack them at this weekend’s May Day events.

Officials from the Garda Representative Association are to hold crisis talks with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy today after intelligence reports confirmed anarchists intent on infiltrating events were likely to be very well armed.

“We are particularly concerned by the issue of health and safety of our members this weekend,” GRA general secretary PJ Stone told delegates at yesterday’s GRA conference in Bundoran, Co Donegal.

An estimated 5,000 gardaí and 2,500 soldiers are being deployed in Dublin as part of an intensive €4 million security operation surrounding the gathering of 25 EU heads of state in Dublin at the weekend.

A hundred prisoners were secretly transferred from Cloverhill Prison to nearby Wheatfield Prison in Clondalkin to make emergency cells available if needed and fully kitted-out riot squad members will be in reserve.

Garda sources are claiming rioters will be wearing crash helmets and body armour and will be carrying hammers, crowbars and screwdrivers which could be used as weapons.

In addition, it is believed they possess crude electronic devices capable of triggering incendiary bombs and are planning to throw bleach into the faces of gardaí, say the sources.

As many as 300 hardcore and potentially violent protestors are expected for the weekend, Commissioner Conroy has revealed.

One group co-ordinating protests, the Dublin Grassroots Network, claimed the arrest and subsequent court appearance of three English anti-globalisation protestors yesterday confirmed Garda harassment of those involved in peaceful demonstrations.

The anticipated arrival from Britain and mainland Europe of hundreds of potential law breakers has prompted the largest deployment of gardaí in Dublin since the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II.

The commissioner said: “I can tell you that from the information we have ... they [protestors] will definitely try and cause disturbances.”

He said this information came from intelligence gathered in Ireland and from foreign police forces and all points of entry, including the border, would be monitored.

Protests are planned in various parts of the city and a march on Saturday will start at midday at the Central Bank in Dame Street and finish at the bridge near Heuston Station.

The commissioner said he expects the majority of protestors to be legitimate and peaceful.