Sir, - Much of the vandalism and anti-social behaviour which result in misery and fear for many citizens is attributed to "disaffected youth".Some young people are bored, we are told. They cannot cope with modern life, they are alienated from society, etc., etc.
In the area where I live a green space where I walk my dogs is littered most mornings with their debris - lager cans, vodka bottles, broken tree branches and other less salubrious evidence of their activities.
Well, in last Monday's demonstrations we saw another face of Irish youth. Not a picture of perfection - heaven forbid - but a section of young people who care about the environment, about the poor, nationally and internationally, and who are willing to stand up and say so. And the Garda, which spends much of its time dealing with and complaining about anti-social activities ranging from vandalism to murder, beat the hell out of them. The old trick of doing so while remaining unidentifiable has obviously been passed from my generation of Garda to the present cohort.
The leadership of the Garda Síochána must bear the blame for the activities of the blue-shirted ones who behaved like lager louts. And we as a society must learn to appreciate and to encourage our young people in their demands for a more caring and just society. - Yours, etc.,
MÁIRÍN DE BURCA,
Upper Fairview Avenue,
Dublin 3.
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Sir, - It is important to clear up a popular misconception about the Reclaim the Streets demonstration last Monday. Although many of those present had an affinity with the anti-capitalist movement, the demonstration was actually about reclaiming Dublin's public spaces for the ordinary citizens. After all the construction and development that Dublin has undergone in recent years, the city remains one of the worst in Europe for cycle lanes, public spaces and public transport. Everyone is aware that traffic is reaching epidemic proportions; capitalists were welcome to join the protest.
The notion put forward by Gerard Reynolds (May 8th) that those who took part in the demonstration were "layabouts" who "piggyback on the toil of others" is just not so. Most of the protesters were ordinary people with jobs who just wanted to express their dissatisfaction in a peaceful and enjoyable way.
The idea that gardaí were protecting ordinary citizens is absurd and offensive to anyone who believes in basic human rights. The video pictures have shocked the nation as many people had thought police brutality was a thing of the past.
The Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice would do well not to try to brush this one off as a slight over-reaction. The police force in any civilised state is obliged to provide adequate training for its officers to enable them to remain calm in the face of taunting by unarmed citizens. There has been nothing to suggest that the protesters posed any threat to people or property and the inconvenience to motorists was comparable to that of rush-hour traffic.
Police in other European cities have managed to accommodate similar protests without recourse to violence. Reclaim the Streets has become an important part of European youth culture, and there will be other rallies in Dublin. If something is not done to prevent future episodes of this nature, and to reprimand the officers involved, I predict a time when activists come from all over Europe to take part, and the emphasis will shift from pro-public space to anti-police.
I urge the Minister for Justice to take swift and decisive action. - Yours, etc.,
Nora Geraghty,
Globalise Resistance,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
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A chara, - Two points on Monday's Reclaim the Streets gathering:
1. To refer to it as "Monday's anti-capitalist demo"(The Irish Times, May 9th) is simply wrong. While some, perhaps many, participants would consider themselves "anti-capitalist", to make this a banner for every participant is to misrepresent the event. All participants shared a desire to register a direct protest at the endemic nature of road and car culture. Road over-building and road deaths, pollution, the lack of pedestrian zones, wars for oil and a range of other issues convinced enough people to say "enough is enough" and to ask us to consider what that city space could be like without cars.
Only to some of Monday's participants is this possible without capitalism.
To allow groups such as the Socialist Workers Party or Globalise Resistance to convince you that Monday's protest was "anti-capitalist" is, with the greatest of respect, lazy journalism.
2. Let us not forget that the farmers, the taxi-drivers and the lorry drivers brought the city, and sometimes the country, to a standstill, and in so doing interfered with people's ability to go about their business much more than the participants in Reclaim the Streets. While the former had their personal finances as a motivation, the latter, the ones left with the injuries, were motivated only by the greater good of a safer, cleaner city centre. - Is mise,
Oilibhear Ó Mordha,
Rockfield Green,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.
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Sir, - Can I ask where all the baton-wielding guards are late on weekend nights, when they are really needed to enforce the law against thugs who attack people on their way home or waiting for taxis? - Yours, etc.,
Declan Cashin,
Callan Road,
Kilkenny.
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Sir, - I have been amazed by the furore over the events on Dame Street last Monday. Surely the gardaí were only getting into the true spirit of the occasion and reclaiming the streets for their rightful, fume-belching owners. - Yours, etc.,
Shane Darcy,
Lower Fairhill Road,
The Claddagh,
Galway