ABOUT 800 people gave a standing ovation in a Dublin church last night to two men who had been held by gardai under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
The meeting in Sean MacDermott Street was called by anti drug campaigners to discuss what they regard as "Garda harassment" of their movement. Afterwards they marched through O'Connell Street and to the Garda station at Fitzgibbon Street to protest against Garda activities.
The meeting was organised by the Inner City Organisations Network. Addressing the meeting, Mr Seanie Lambe of the network said, people were aggrieved that the Garda was using Section 30, an anti terrorism law, against anti drug campaigners.
"These aren't terrorists, these are community activists," he said. The Garda had "never once arrested a single drug dealer or drug baron under these laws".
Mr Lambe said there was "a certain element within the gardai" which was keen to break up the anti drug movement, even though the assistant Garda commissioner for Dublin, Mr Tom King, had said he wanted partnership between communities and the force.
"If anyone is leaving that partnership, it's not the people of the community, it's the gardai," he said, to loud applause.
However he drew a distinction between the local Garda drug unit, based in Store Street Station, and the rest of the force. There was applause for Sgt John O'Driscoll of the local unit when he addressed the meeting. He listed six recent arrests by the unit of alleged heroin dealers in the area.
He said there were new laws, such as seven day detention for drug traffickers, which would help the Garda, but there was a problem if people started "deciding for themselves" what the law should be. He was worried that some recent Garda searches had come across loaded firearms. "We don't want anyone hurt by guns, but the reality is, if guns are introduced to the whole scene, that is the prospect we'll have to face."
He said during his career he had faced the barrels of a sawn off shotgun while his colleague lay on the ground. He had been at Veronica Guerin's funeral. He knew the damage guns could do. He added that drug dealers would like division between the anti drug campaigners and the Garda. "Then they could sit back and say, `look at them all fighting each other'."