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Madam, – This morning, for the first time in over half a century on this earth, I was manhandled by members of An Garda Síochána. This was in the course of a peaceful Irish Anti-War Movement demonstration outside the Israeli embassy, when it was suddenly announced that the gardaí were going to corral us behind a barrier in accordance with the Public Order Act, 1994. Given that we had been circulating before the embassy for some two hours without any interference from gardaí, there can be no doubt that this order came from “on high”.