Taxi-drivers' families are victims of latest aggressive protest fiasco

The hotheads among taxi-drivers might choose to remember yesterday as the Battle of Nassau Street, but for their cause it was just the latest fiasco in a shambolic campaign.

"Bring the women and children up the front," shouted a taxi-driver at the height of the scuffles as he heaved against a Garda barrier on Nassau Street. But the women and children were already being crushed, trampled and terrorised as they became the meat in the sandwich between the gardai and the taxi-drivers.

The families of the drivers were the main victims as the march heaved against the motorcycle cordon thrown across the street.

Scuffles broke out and the front line screamed in fear before the dam burst and the protesters streamed through.

It was a miracle that no one was trampled in the rush, or run over by Garda motorcyclists as they manoeuvred sharply out of the barrier they had formed. A man in his 60s who was struck by a motorcycle was later taken by ambulance to hospital.

As most of the marchers pushed forward to Kildare Street and the Dail, their colleagues were left to recover. Mothers tried to comfort terrified children while angry taxi-drivers remonstrated with the remaining gardai. Tempers flared and journalists covering the fracas were abused and, in two cases, harassed.

The marchers congratulated themselves on having broken the siege, but onlookers were reminded yet again of the undercurrent of violence in the campaign.

This march was badly organised and badly conducted. The leaders of the taxi unions were absent, busy preparing for their meeting with the Minister of State, Mr Molloy. Officially, the wives of the drivers led the protest, though it was hard to see who was in control.

Up to 3,000 marchers had set off from the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square, led gaily by an effigy of Mary Harney and a battered old banger symbolising the future state of taxis under deregulation.

Predictably, Ms Harney, Mr Molloy and the PDs in general bore the brunt of the protesters' anger, but the Taoiseach also drew fire. Placards referred to "Bertie Pilate Ahern" and called on him to "be a man not a mouse" and "stop hiding behind Mary's skirt".

But there was a sinister tone, too. Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael's traffic spokeswoman, was "a monster". Posters criticising "Fascist Molloy" came emblazoned with a swastika. "Heil Mary - Fuhrer" read another placard.

By the time it reached Trinity College, the march was in disarray. Protesters came to a standstill - as did Dublin's traffic - while those at the front argued over the route to the Dail. Calmer voices were overruled as a decision was made to defy Garda instructions not to proceed up Kildare Street.

Ultimately, the arrival outside the Dail proved an anticlimax. After their leaders went in to meet Mr Molloy, the marchers listened to speeches and passed the time singing The Fields of Athenry before marching back quietly to Parnell Square.