Dublin Grassroots Network seeks clarification on Mayday powers for police and army

The Dublin Grassroots Network seeks immediate clarification on police and army powers on and in the run-up to May 1st: Huge disruption is to be caused to Dublin by the EU ministers' Dublin Castle photocall, which entails the closing of Dame Street, and the Farmleigh banquet, for which Europe's largest public park is to be sealed off by a rumoured seven miles of razor-wire, water-cannons, soldiers and armed gardai.

Yet on what grounds and on whose orders are these extreme measures being considered?

Today's Irish Times reports that other city centre streets may be closed "to prevent large gatherings of protestors". Do we not have the democratic right to protest and register dissent with an EU that is becoming increasingly militarised and undemocratic? This lack of democracy is becoming evident in the run-up to Mayday as event organisers are harassed and the city is being turned into a police state with armed gardai on the streets next week, inevitably creating a climate of intimidation and tension, for the public and gardai alike. There's been concern expressed in the media about a "padded bloc", a group padded to prevent injury and protect protestors from possible minority police violence, yet there has been no definite information on what offensive weapons the Gardai may use, or under what circumstances.

Why the secrecy?

Surely in a democratic society the public has a right to know what measures are being taken to protect their leaders, who are meeting behind razor-wire out of fear of their own citizens.

We ask:

- What are the rules of engagement?

- What special powers will the gardai or army receive and on whose orders?

- What is the legal basis for bringing the army onto the streets and arming the gardai? What power of arrests do the soldiers have?

- For what acts of protest can members of the public be arrested / batoned / shot?

- Has force been authorised to remove peaceful protestors from the streets? - Are ad-hoc detention centres planned and if so on what legal basis?

- How will the rights of those detained be protected? Will there be legal observers, legal aid etc?

- What precautions are being put in place to avoid a re-enactment of garda violence at the May 2002 street party?

- What streets or bridges are to be closed?

The Mayday events are not aimed at the gardai but at the EU ministers themselves and their push for militarization, racist immigration policy, privatisation and trade "liberalisation" resulting in the devastation of developing world economies and increasing social exclusion in the developed world.

Only shareholders can benefit from these neoliberal policies which do not represent the wishes of the majority of people in Ireland, in the EU and worldwide. We are "bringing the noise" to Farmleigh because it is the only way our representatives will hear us. We are doing this peacefully and all are welcome to join us. How far away from our representatives will we be kept? Why are the gardai being asked to "protect" EU leaders against their own citizens?

We appeal to the public and to Amnesty and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to support the democratic right to protest in this country.

All of the protests and Mayday events planned are peaceful.

The schedule of events is public (see http://struggle.ws/eufortress for details), unlike the plans of the Minister for Justice and the Gardai who have stated that they will not release any information to the public until next week.

See you Mayday weekend.

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