Travellers take to the streets earlier: protesting at local council blocking access to Dunsink Lane

by kevin - imc éire Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:52

Five more from protest this morning

by redjade Fri Oct 08, 2004 13:17

fantastic that you got down there.

indymedia is everywhere :-)

by Tony Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:05

I have mixed feelings about this one.

The protests are ugly and the burned out JCB never caught your eye Redjade.

On the other hand, I have driven this road when only one lane only was available due to the illegal dumping of rubbish. This should have been policed and the offenders hauled before the courts.

I don't think the barricade is warranted or going to remain.

by redjade Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:10

'The protests are ugly and the burned out JCB never caught your eye Redjade.'

WTF??

i did not take these photos - pay attention to the details listed above.

by k - imc éire Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:18

Around 150 travellers protested this morning near the Auburn Roundabout, which is close to the junction of the M50 and the N3 (the Blanchardstown interchange). They came out onto the streets after the local council erected a concrete wall on Dunsink Lane, closing it off as a roadway and allowing only local access to either side of the wall. The Travellers were not consulted about the wall being built, which was done at 5am on Tuesday morning. Dunsink Lane is a back road which is near the Dunsink Dump (closed) and Elmgreen golf course.

The protest began around 8.15am when Travellers attempted to make their way towards the N3 via Dunsink Lane from their halting site. They were blocked by a cordon of Gardai, who threatened to arrest anyone who attempted to break through. Around 30 travellers were already on the N3 side of the cordon with placards saying "Traveller Rights are Human Rights" and "Consult not Insult". They were gathered in front of the entrance to a motel.

The people on the Dunsink Lane side then turned around and walked towards the M50 roundabout via the pedestrian trail alongside the Royal Canal. They were escorted by the Gardai as they walked via the Navan Road to join up with the other Travellers in front of the motel entrance.

3 younger Travellers had attempted to walk around the Garda cordon by scaling the high bridge wall. They were followed by the Gardai, and when one young boy of around 13 jumped down he was grabbed by two Gardai who threatened him with arrest but he did not seem too bothered (see above picture!). Several of the Travellers had video and still cameras with them, as they said that on previous occasions when they had no way of capturing evidence, that the Gardai had been physically aggressive towards them.

Meanwhile the group now gathered at the front of the motel entrance were engaging in a peaceful sit down protest, stating that the Gardai should be arresting the "real criminals - corrupt politicians and Garda, but you're hardly going to arrest yourselves are you?"

The Gardai attempted to force through a couple of cars towards the roundabout, but the Travellers tried to keep their sit down protest together. Here one person was arrested (he was restrained by six Gardai with his arms bent awkwardly behind his back and his head pushed into the ground - completely unneccessary) and there was a bit of pushing and shoving.

Meanwhile one of the people who had been up on the wall with a placard (see above picture) came down quietly - but was then pounced on by the Gardai, arrested and thrown into the back of a van. One Traveller with a camera was blocked taking pictures by a Garda and was warned it would be confiscated, despite other media present experiencing no intrusion or difficulties. The sit down protest continued for a short while with chanting and calls for the wall to be dismantled.

Around 9.30am the protest was beginning to wind down and the Travellers were re-grouping. They said they were going to assemble around 4pm to cause further disruption until their demands had been met, but would not reveal the location to the Gardai.

[audio soon...]

by Oisín Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:21

This action was the last resort for the Garda. The area had become lawless and nobody could enter for fear of intimidation. There was definitely illegal dumping going on i was approached by the travellers there when i was dumping legally and told they could do it for half. There is also allegedly an illegal Diesel laundering going on up there, this i can't be sure of. But there is definitely more than meets the eye to whats going down there.
If that's the action they take they'll have to realise that we all live under the same laws.

by k Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:25

More pix on the way soon. Couldnt get any of the burnt out JCB or the wall because of Garda access restrictions and time constraints. Will try and get some later on.

by lk876 Fri Oct 08, 2004 15:37

k- imc

you must be so disappointed that the gardai acted so professionally and restrained this morning..

youre like a little parasite just waiting to take an arrest, a conflict anything at all that can be taken out of context and used to sully the garda's name

your report is full of pejorative terms; 'pounced' on by gardai etc.. etc.. , regular imc readers you get the drift.


your reports fail to mention the woman intimidated by 3 itinerants dancing on her silver ford focus / the 2 cars with their window smashed yesterday in dunsink lane and the threatening messages left on the barricade 'you will suffer' etc.. etc.... , but then when has indymedia let background get in the way of a good ol' whinge.

by reader Fri Oct 08, 2004 16:02

if you dont like k's report then write your own, thats the beauty of open source publishing. if you have information that you feel should be made public then put it up here. indymedia is shaped by its contributors

dont hate the media, become the media
dont hate indymedia, become indymedia

if other stuff happened yesterday then please enlighten us, maybe you have pictures and a report too.

by redjade Fri Oct 08, 2004 16:10

get off your butt

walk down to the centra or spar nearby

buy a cheap plastic disposable camera - 5euro?

go to the site where the protest happened

take some shots of the JCB and what ever else

take your plastic disposable camera to a one-hour development shop and ask the photos to be printed to CDROM (cheaper than paper these days)

wait two hours, because one-hour shops are never one-hour

bring the CDROM to your computer, size the photos using a photo editing program to be 460 pixels wide (or less) and under 60k

come back to this newswire item and click 'files to upload' at the top

UPLOAD your photos - maybe write some text explaining YOUR SIDE of the story.

I look forward to seeing your contribution to Indymedia.ie

freedom of speech - use it or lose it.

by kevin Fri Oct 08, 2004 16:55

Last five. Not great quality, apologies.

by k Fri Oct 08, 2004 17:06

Travellers on the N3 side of the blockade say why they are there:

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/traveller1.mp3

Travellers on the Dunsink Lane side of the blockade talk about why they are protesting

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/traveller2.mp3

A traveller wants to know why he is not allowed take photos

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/traveller_camera.mp3

One traveller gives his overall opinion about the state and laws enacted against the travelling community

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/traveller_final.mp3

by Joe Fri Oct 08, 2004 17:06

Had a phone call from someone on the way up to join the protests this evening saying others welcome to come along and show solidarity. RTE reporting "200 Travellers resume protest on the N3"
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1008/travellers.html

"The Travellers say the barrier means they have to travel seven miles to reach schools and medical services."

by Joe Fri Oct 08, 2004 17:24

The audio interviews above are well worth listening to. Explains what is going on very well.

by Tara Fri Oct 08, 2004 18:09

There is no justification whatsoever for the behaviour of Travellers at Ratoath Road/Ballyboggan Road/Tolka Valley Road on Wednedsay evening. I spent an hour at the junction of Ballyboggan Road where kids stood in front of cars to prevent them turning back and adults and children intimidated and shouted abuse at drivers - this was admitted by Pavee Point on 5-7 Live yesterday so don't tell me it didn't happen. The Gardai took a very soft approach which obviously hasn't worked so they were right to take a more hardline approach to the extension of the protests to the N3 where it would inconvenience even more commuters.

Let's get things in proportion: the diversion from Dunsink Lane to Finglas via River Road is an additional distance of approximately 5 miles, which can be covered by car in less than 10 minutes. There is still pedestrian access to Dunsink Lane from Ratoath Road.

The dumping problem in Dunsink Lane is as bad as it is because every representative of any State organisation that has ever tried to do anything about the situation of the Travellers on the halting sites there - litter wardens, environmental health officers, local authority officials, ESB and An Post workers, Gardai and even fire brigade and ambulance presonnel - has been driven from the Lane by the intimidatory actions of some of the Travellers who live there.

I'm sure there are hundreds of law-abiding Traveller citizens in Dunsink Lane - but they should be looking to their own community in the first instance to find a solution to the problem rather than crying "racism" when the authorities take action that would ultimately result in a better environment for all of us in Finglas.

by k Fri Oct 08, 2004 22:13

around two hours ago just before it got dark.

by k Fri Oct 08, 2004 22:13

fire this time...

by Joan - Traveller and Settled Solidarity Sat Oct 09, 2004 13:28

Well done to the Travellers at Dunsink who have stood up for their rights through non-violent direct action.
This apartheid wall sets a new precedent in the vicious treatment of the Travelling Community by the Irish state and its racist institutions.
It is a disgusting and regressive act with an obvious parallel in the West Bank,which the Irish state has quite rightly condemned.
When will this country face up to its schizophrenic attitude towards its own people?
As for the violent behaviour of a small number of the protestors, this is unfortunate, but as Michael Collins said on RTE news the other night, "if you treat people like dogs, don't be surprised if they turn around and bite you".
Traveller and Settled Solidarity (TASS) wishes to express its solidarity with the Travellers of Dunsink Lane and its support of a superb non-violent protest. The best of luck with the destruction of the racist wall!

by Adrian Tue Oct 12, 2004 19:38

I'd like to agree with the comments of Tara, another correspondent here.
I frequently travel around the Dunsink area and the area is, genuinely, horrifically littered and polluted. (Please, please go up there and have a look before dismissing this comment.)
I would also like to add that those responsible for vandalising the local public access golf course, Elmgreen, (see story on Ireland.com this afternoon) is really regrettable. Elmgreen is used by local people in Finglas and Ballymun who cannot afford expensive golf clubs. Yet these travellers decided to cause €60,000 worth of vandalism as a protest.

by hats off Tue Oct 12, 2004 21:25

since when did you have to make a report yourself to criticise the flaws of another's report?

by dermot Wed Oct 13, 2004 14:00

Another comment pointed out a wrecked hospital A&E room in Wexford. Similarly no serious action will be taken here to procecute anyone.

by letsbefair Wed Oct 13, 2004 14:55

A&E rooms are frequently the location of violent incidents, most of which are caused by members of the 'settled' community. I suppose on the law of averages its inevitable that the travellers will at some point do something similar.

by Pauline Collins Wed Nov 10, 2004 13:46

As a traveller myself I think that the protest was very successful but it is true that some people got a bit out of hand. We have a right to peacefullly protest. We would like to thank those in the settled community who supported us all the way. The wall is appauling and ridiculous and it should never have been put there in the first place.