I am not too well versed about this but it seems that the protestors are not actually against the selling of the pipeline but more the safety issue. I have heard from people in the area that the protestors are mainly known IRA people and people with a gripe against the cops (don’t go nuts Rock - just saying what I heard). Also the sight of some hundred people saying the rosary because of a pipeline strikes me as somewhat of an overreaction…
A few points to make:
- Corrib gas ad on this thread is a bit surreal. Not sure I like it at all.
- There is a broad coalition of protestors - many of them socialists who are against the sale of state infrastructure to a multinational. I align myself with that viewpoint more than with the Catholic crusaders saying the rosary (which I do find odd personally, but each to their own. And I wouldn’t call a rosary an overreaction - it’s quite an understated form of protest really).
- I have heard that crap about the “provo element” as well. No surprise that McDowell started that particular rumour. For the record Sinn Fin do support the protestors but they’re not orchestrating anything.
- I have also heard from a friend of one of the cops down there, that the gardai are spending their nights boozing in a local nightclub and are turning up drunk at the scene every morning, cause there’s nothing else for them to do.
As an aside:
Newspaper Watch: Wading in a sea of Shell propaganda
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=36&aid=3278
by Chekov Feeney
Thursday, October 26, 2006
For the last three weeks Shell have been constructing a terminal in Ballinaboy Co. Mayo. Every morning upwards of 100 people gather outside the site to protest against the terminal and every morning a similar number of police arrive to forcibly remove them and allow the work to continue. As the protests have gained in intensity, coverage of them has slowly fallen off the media agenda. On 20 October, the Shell to Sea campaign organised a national day of action, and bussed in a couple of hundred supporters from around the country.
Lorna Siggins, writing in the Irish Times, gave a brief description of the protests, but her article, entitled “Intervention urged in Corrib gas row”, primarily focused on Mayo TD Dr Jerry Cowley’s calls for the government to intervene. The prioritisation of such vapid statements by politicians most people would consider the deployment of hundreds of garda to be an “intervention” over the actions of hundreds of civilians is a cornerstone of the media’s news agenda.
Nevertheless, simply by reporting many of the well-known facts about the Rossport protests, Siggins has stood against the media herd who have otherwise enthusiastically adopted the role of Shell’s propagandists. As Harry Browne pointed out (Village 11 May 2006), the editorial line of the Irish Times has often opted for Shell’s version of events over the reportage of their own correspondant. Alongside Siggins’ account of the day of action, more than twice as much space was provided to Terry Nolan, a deputy managing director of Shell E&P. His article gave the impression that Shell’s involvement in the project was motivated by philanthropy and a love of progress.
While Siggins has ensured that the Irish Times has provided some space to the arguments of the protestors, the rest of the media has been unencumbered by such aspirations.
The Independent greeted the day of action with two articles and an editorial denouncing the “extremely sinister campaign”. They once again wheeled out evidence-free allegations of intimidation and of political groups ‘hi-jacking’ the campaign. Sinn Fin, their regular bogeyman, was this time joined by “groups of Dublin-based anarchists” who had “attached themselves to the campaign”. Since the campaign is open to the public, accusing activists of infiltrating it is like accusing the audience of infiltrating a cinema.
As far back as July 2005, the Sunday Independent quoted Martin Ferris as saying, “Sinn Fin is fully supportive of the Rossport protesters and is part of a broad-based campaign that involves the families of the Rossport men, the local community there, environmentalists, anti-globalisation activists, socialists, anarchists and many people who are simply outraged at what lies behind the protest.”
The Sunday Times has somehow managed to outdo the Independent in the malice of their coverage. On 22 October, they ran yet another article targeting Maura Harrington, a prominent member of Shell To Sea. The article, entitled “Protest principal’s school has double time off”, once again insinuated that her professional work was suffering due to her involvement in the campaign.
However, Siobhan Maguire’s article revealed that she had no idea whether the high number of substitute teachers used by Harrington’s school was “due to the absence of a number of staff or if a teacher took maternity leave”.
We have no evidence, we haven’t even bothered researching the story, but why let that stop us making malicious insinuations?
It was good to see a big Shell to Sea banner in the Celtic End at St Mirren on Sunday.
Will these protesters ever fuck off.
???
I’m fed up with them.
Blah Blah Blah, our houses might blow up, blah, blah, blah.
:rolleyes:
A few malcontents are ruining it for the rest of the locals up there who are only too willing to work with and benefit from Shell.
These protestors deserve immense credit for their brave and selfless stance in the face of the the bully boy tactics of Shell/Fianna Fail/Ray Burke/Independent Newspapers/Paul Williams.
+1
anything that raphael & paul williams are into deserve to be protested against
Yerra fuck them, they took the soup.
Has there been a development on this or something? Aren’t they just the same monkeys who were climbing trees at the Glen of the Downs a few years ago? ie a few middle class city boy opt outs?
Whatever program was on a while back about this featured some quarehawk ould lad who sat under a truck in protest. When he was later interviewed, he mentioned how his father had cut down electricity poles in ye olden days because he didn’t trust them. This is the kind of simpleton bumpkin you’re dealing with here.
That Harrington wan is an awful oul’ wagon.
The crusties are getting hot and bothered over the below transcript.
Apparently the cops arrested two women, one of whom had a video camera.
They put the women in one car and the camcorder in the other, not knowing that the camera was still running.
Transcripts of recording
By:
Irish Times
On tape: transcripts of recording
Excerpt from recording by confiscated video camera in a Garda vehicle on March 31st, 2011, after the arrest of two women at Aughoose for public order-related offences relating to the Corrib gas project.
“Crusty camp” is a reference to the Rossport Solidarity Camp where the two women had been staying.
Garda A: “Who is them two lassies, do you know the two of them?
Garda B: “I don’t know the second one, the first one is with blonde hair.”
Unidentified garda: “She was up on the tractor earlier on.”
Garda A: “It’d do no harm to get the second one’s name again?
Garda B: “She’s some Yank. I don’t know who the f**k she is.”
Unidentified garda: “ Is she a Yank?
Garda B: “It sounds like it, it sounds like it, the accent anyway
Unidentified garda: “Sounds like a Yank or Canadian.”
Garda B: “Well whoever, we’ll get Immigration f**king on her.”
Garda A: “She refused to give her name and address and told she would be arrested.”
Garda B : “…and deported”
Garda A: “And raped.”
Garda B: “I wouldn’t go that far yet…… She was living down at that crusty camp, f**k sake, you never know what you might get.”
Garda A: “Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you.”
Unidentified Garda: “Hold it there, give me your name and address there, I’ll rape you.”
Garda A : “Or I’ll definitely rape you.”
Unidentified garda: “Will you be me friend on Facebook?”
(Conversation continues about Facebook in Garda station)
Excerpt from video camera recording in which gardaí discuss safety and techniques for arrest at protests.
GARDA A on phone to a colleague: “I know we don’t want to be arresting them but by the same token, we were left with no option. We have an issue there as well with the lads in the protest removal team there, of actual climbing the tractors. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to get safety ropes and ladders and we’re going to leave them in the van in case we have to go up on the cab of the tractor again. So we’re looking after that now at the moment.”
Garda A: ends call.
Garda B: “You see at least you’re a sergeant, like.”
Garda A: “ like some of auld timers who were here in the area in the first and second campaign. I’ll tell you one thing, the decisions that were made policing at that time.”
Garda B: I’ll still go back to what says there . . . If someone gets hurt we’re going to be on our own in the blocks.”
Garda A: “. . . I don’t think we’re going to be on our own. If we have exercised due diligence and we have used common sense and used whatever was available to us to remove them. At the end of the day, we have a certain duty of care to them. We ask them to get down, if they don’t get down, we tell them we are taking them down forcefully. We take them down forcefully.
“We use whatever means at our disposal, which includes ladders and ropes or whatever to get them down safely. If one of them slips, so f**kin. What can we do?”
Garda B: “Ladders and ropes. All I’m saying is, the point is
‘Garda, are you a member of the protest removal team?’
’I am.’
’Have you received training with working at heights?’
’Yes, I have.’
. . .’How did you train to bring someone down?’
’In a harness with ropes.’”
“We didn’t have any of them options today there . . . That’s all I’m saying. And is dead right; if we’re in the box:
’Have you received training on how to take a protester down from heights?’
’Yes’.”
“And if we did it with ropes and harnesses . . . then why did you let my client fall? Did you not go get your ropes and harness to take her down. That’s all.”
Garda A: “. . .To get them down safely we’d have to erect a scaffold tower beside them and abseil them down. And and, the, the, taking the common-sense approach, and a common-sense view, it would be impractical to erect a scaffolding tower to get them down off it. And we use whatever safe means at our disposal, as we considered safe protest removal team to take them down, ie, ropes and ladders.”
Unidentified garda: “What was the obstruction?”
Garda B: “There was no obstruction . . .”
Garda A: “They were obstructing the road.”
Garda B: “There was no obstruction . . . The tractors all other vehicles were able to get past.”
Garda A: “They were obstructing the road. Excuse me. If a car stops there, in the middle of that f***ing road, and it’s stopped there, it’s obstructing the road. It doesn’t have to be blocking it. If it’s parked there it’s obstructing it.”
Unidentified garda: “Well if nothing else they were obstructing the vehicle.”
Garda B: “That’s the only vehicle obstructed.”
Unidentified garda: “. . . free passage.”
Garda A: “The vehicle was obstructing the road. Just because other vehicles could pass didn’t mean the road wasn’t being obstructed.”
Garda A seems to get out of the car . . .
Garda B: “We all said this, it was a safety issue.”
Unidentified Garda: “It was the best option . It was the best option at that time, there’s no doubt about it.”
Garda B: “We all said it because of a safety issue. There was three up, there was a wind blowing. And like did you f***ing feel safe, 100 per cent safe going up there taking down two people.”
Unidentified garda: “No”.
Garda B: “…I don’t know what you thought?”
Unidentified garda : “All I know is that if something happens, who’s going to stand f***ing behind me.”
Garda B: “And do you honestly think that is going to turn around and say “oh look it”. We got trained a certain way.
’Garda did you f***ing, take a protester down the way you were trained’.
’No I didn’t.’
’Well then Guard.’
“And the job will say were you fing trained a certain way. The job will fing ditch you.”
Posted Date:
5 April 2011
Dirty crusty bitch should be greatful any man would be talking about going near her. Smell off the dirty bitches.
Caught between a rock and hard place when it comes to crusties and Gardai both as despicable as the other.
The second part is largely irrelevant except for telling the protestors they should spend more time on heights because the Gardaí don’t know how to react.
First part is fairly shocking stuff. Idiots to be talking like that but it’s indicative of the attitude of the Gardaí that they take sides against protestors and all neutrality goes out the window. I know they operate to instructions at certain levels but they seem to be getting a great buzz from bullying the sad bastards.
I don’t think a conversation 2 boys were having in a car is relavent either TBH, it was stupid from the gaurds but nothing more I would say.
I’d probably have a similar conversation myself to be honest. They were only bantering.
My thoughts exactly, banter and nothing more. I’d say those boys have witnessed all sorts of crusty filthy despicably cunts up there over the last while or so. Shite they got caught on tape, but it was a private conversation imo, nothing more.