“Look at them with their balaclavas up. They mustn’t be a bit used to the rain,” said a fuel protester, dismissively. He was passing some public order unit gardaí muffled up against the weather in Cork as they began their operation to try to keep the oil flowing from Whitegate refinery.
Day four of the protest over rising fuel prices and up to 200 protesters comprising hauliers, agricultural building contractors and farmers descended on Whitegate to prevent supplies leaving the Irving Oil refinery at the end of the east Cork village.
Up to 20 trucks, an assortment of tractor units and rigid lorries including tipper trucks had been strategically placed at the southern end of the village. A bus and a tipper truck had been carefully positioned to create a chicane so that only a car could get through on the road to the refinery.
Confusion seemed to be the order of the day – the hi-vis jacketed protesters did not know whether their representatives would be admitted to talks taking place in Dublin between the Government and representative organisations such as the Irish Road Haulage Association.
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Word quickly spread among the huddled protesters that a force of gardaí were on their way to escort tankers into the refinery. Very quickly footage of a convoy of 20 Garda cars and vans began circulating on WhatsApp.
Up to 100 members of the Garda Public Order Unit, drawn from Cork City and county, Kerry and Limerick descended on Whitegate. One garda said that emails had been sent out seeking experienced public order gardaí to attend. The garda indicated that the emails had been sent to serving members as far away as Mayo and Cavan.
In the event it did not turn out to be a mini Strait of Hormuz. More like a game of chess, with gardaí managing to persuade protesters to lift a barrier outside their blockade separating them from the village.
This had the effect of corralling the protesters away from a slip road leading to the refinery which protesters had agreed to keep open to allow two trucks to collect consignments from the refinery.
These two tankers were to collect 36,000 litres of kerosene heating oil and 36,000 litres of white diesel for use by emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire tenders and Garda cars.
The protesters were happy to oblige.
But then word filtered back that there were five other trucks waiting outside the village. The protesters decided to take evasive action, bypassing the Garda barrier to a parallel side street and emerging in front of the Garda barriers.
Some 40 gardaí immediately moved forward and formed a line across the street preventing the protesters from approaching a tanker which had pulled up behind them. Another 60 gardaí remained in reserve around it. This led to a two-hour standoff with both sides braving driving rain.
Events took a dramatic turn when one of the protesters came from a side street and climbed on to the roof of a tanker. He raised his fist and waved a tricolour to loud cheers from his comrades.
In truth the atmosphere was anything but tense even when word filtered through that the protest representatives had been denied admission to the meeting in Dublin.
People were concerned for the safety of the man on the truck and eventually when the driver managed to turn the vehicle very slowly, the protester climbed on to the ladder behind the cab where gardaí could reach him. He was arrested for a public order offence and taken to a Garda station in east Cork.
When the Six One News came on the television a whistle rang out as one of the protesters called for quiet so they could listen to Tánaiste Simon Harris. They listened attentively until Harris said “the law of the land will be applied”.
One of the protesters shouted out: “Shut up you langer.” The general hubbub resumed and Harris was ignored. The standoff at Whitegate, as with the Strait of Hormuz, does not look like being resolved just yet.
