Bankers bemused by Dublin protest's jesters

WHILE THOUSANDS of protesters were clashing with police in London, smashing windows and throwing paint bombs, the Dublin protest was a more genteel affair.

Colourful balloons and jester hats abounded as about 30 people gathered outside the Bank of Ireland on College Green to mark “Financial Fools’ Day”.

Nessa Ní Chasaide of Debt and Development Coalition Ireland said the protest had been called to give people a chance to voice their outrage at economic injustice at home and abroad.

“Now that the banks are being given €7 billion of our taxpayers’ money, we demand justice,” she said. “If billions of euro can be found within matters of days and weeks . . . then resources can be found for the poorest and most vulnerable.”

The group then filed into Bank of Ireland to hand a letter of protest to bank manager Paddy Corbett for his chief executive Brian Goggin.

In London, protesters had threatened to hang bankers but the Bank of Ireland staff looked more bemused than frightened when the parade of ballooncarrying protesters walked by.

José Antonio Gutiérrez of the Latin America solidarity centre told Mr Corbett that Mr Goggin was earning a €2 million salary. “He’s getting one hundred times what I am getting. Is that man worth a hundred times myself?”

The group filed out again, almost outnumbered by the bank security staff, and headed for AIB on Westmoreland Street. While protesters rampaged through London’s financial district, the Irish protesters waited for the green man at the pedestrian crossing while chanting, “The banks have taken our money. Now we want justice.”