Jolly Red Giant
17th November 2014, 22:42
A new wave of protests against water charges has erupted in Ireland. Government ministers on public engagements have been met with mass blockades of hundreds of protesters in several parts of the country.
On Saturday in Tallaght (a suburb of Dublin) more than four hundred local protesters blockaded the Deputy Prime Minister in her car for more than two and a half hours. The police made repeated and failed attempts to drag protesters engaged in a sit down protest off the road. Participating the he protest was local Anti-Austerity Alliance member of parliament, Paul Murphy.
The Prime Minister blew a gasket and accused protesters of kidnapping his deputy.
Also on Saturday another protest at the Mansion House saw the police violently drag and throw protesters off the street.
Today hundreds of protesters mobilised against the Finance Minister at a hotel in Limerick. A large force of police blockaded the hotel to prevent the protesters getting into he meeting.
Tonight in Sligo over 400 protesters blockaded a hotel in Sligo staging a sit down protest stopping the Prime Minister entering a Fine Gael party event.
Environment Minister today claimed he received a death threat over the phone.
The media have been engaged in a barrage of condemnation of the protests and the involvement of the We Won't Pay Campaign, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and the Socialist Party. Sinn Fein have joined in to condemn the protests (claiming that people shouldn't be throwing water balloons).
Throughout the day three members of Parlaiment, Joe Higgins, Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger have been defending the right to protest and outlining that the government and the elites have been brow-beating and bullying working class people with a massive programme of austerity. Water charges are a step too far and the working class have go off their knees to fight back.
An opinion poll today of several thousand people by a radio station came out at 72% backing the weekends protests.Support for mass non-payment and a rejection of the government's latest concessions is now running at 77%.
The local We Won't Pay Camapign tonight carried out a canvass in a local housing estate designed to establish an estate campaign group. The response wAs absolutely incredible. The scale of the anger and determination to defeat the government is on a quantitatively and qualitatively significantly higher level than I have experienced in more than 30 years of political activity. Every single house supported the campaign and supported the protests over the past couple of days.
The scale of the revolt by working class people against water charges is unprecedented since the foundation of the state. The potential now exists for the collapse of the government long before the next election in 2016. The establishment parties are all facing a massive revolt at the ballot box and on the streets over the coming months.
On Saturday in Tallaght (a suburb of Dublin) more than four hundred local protesters blockaded the Deputy Prime Minister in her car for more than two and a half hours. The police made repeated and failed attempts to drag protesters engaged in a sit down protest off the road. Participating the he protest was local Anti-Austerity Alliance member of parliament, Paul Murphy.
The Prime Minister blew a gasket and accused protesters of kidnapping his deputy.
Also on Saturday another protest at the Mansion House saw the police violently drag and throw protesters off the street.
Today hundreds of protesters mobilised against the Finance Minister at a hotel in Limerick. A large force of police blockaded the hotel to prevent the protesters getting into he meeting.
Tonight in Sligo over 400 protesters blockaded a hotel in Sligo staging a sit down protest stopping the Prime Minister entering a Fine Gael party event.
Environment Minister today claimed he received a death threat over the phone.
The media have been engaged in a barrage of condemnation of the protests and the involvement of the We Won't Pay Campaign, the Anti-Austerity Alliance and the Socialist Party. Sinn Fein have joined in to condemn the protests (claiming that people shouldn't be throwing water balloons).
Throughout the day three members of Parlaiment, Joe Higgins, Paul Murphy and Ruth Coppinger have been defending the right to protest and outlining that the government and the elites have been brow-beating and bullying working class people with a massive programme of austerity. Water charges are a step too far and the working class have go off their knees to fight back.
An opinion poll today of several thousand people by a radio station came out at 72% backing the weekends protests.Support for mass non-payment and a rejection of the government's latest concessions is now running at 77%.
The local We Won't Pay Camapign tonight carried out a canvass in a local housing estate designed to establish an estate campaign group. The response wAs absolutely incredible. The scale of the anger and determination to defeat the government is on a quantitatively and qualitatively significantly higher level than I have experienced in more than 30 years of political activity. Every single house supported the campaign and supported the protests over the past couple of days.
The scale of the revolt by working class people against water charges is unprecedented since the foundation of the state. The potential now exists for the collapse of the government long before the next election in 2016. The establishment parties are all facing a massive revolt at the ballot box and on the streets over the coming months.