Dublin City councillor John Lyons has been released after being arrested by Gardai at a water metre protest in north Dublin this morning.
— Gemma O’Doherty (@gemmaod1) September 26, 2014
Yikes.
UPDATE:
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Everything. As It Happens.
Did they use water cannons?
Glorified bouncers for private businesses. Hope your mammy is proud of ye.
You fool. Let me go out and harass you as you try to go to work (if you work) and see if you think I should be allowed to continuously harass and prevent you from doing so.
That moron is only to happy to have been arrested. As for the wan doing the commentating. “seriously loike”.
Oooo, I like the little “if you work” dig, because being unemployed means you’re a terrible person doncha know. Means you don’t get an equal say and that you automatically lose all credibility.
And they’re not being harassed (though I’ll grant you some people doing that work have been), it’s just a man standing on a path.
I hope the pig scum in Ireland get what´s coming to them. Next they´ll be sent to Corrib to be hired goons there. Seriously, Irish pigs who carry out these orders are scum, their families should be ashamed.
People who refer to the police as ‘pigs’ in my experience tend to be the scum.
I hope your car isn’t robbed or your house burgled in the near future, red faces all round.
+1
So do I. Because nothing will be done about it.
They don’t respond to calls because of cuts but can afford to send multiple gardaí out to this.
Pigs? Seriously? Grow up.
Idiotic post of the day prize to you!
*Mick
+1
Good Man Mick don’t hold back. They are doing the job that the majority of people in the country want them to do. Protect people who are working .
The majority? and your proof is?
So he was arrested for breaking the law? Shocking outcome.
Can’t wait till all this ‘People before Profit’ crap goes out of fashion and the band of crusties that support them grow up.
It’s a pretty appalling law in fairness. Just because something is law doesn’t mean it’s right.
What’s so appalling about it?
Either way, you don’t get to choose which laws you obey. Everyone gets one vote and an equal say in the making of our law and that law applies to everyone equally. No individual or group of individuals has the right to declare themselves above the law and decide which laws are acceptable to them and which are not.
“and an equal say in the making of our law”
Let’s not get carried away now…..
That’s an absolute fantasy. Fine Gael and Labour brought this in despite massive opposition to it and then wrote in a law making such protests illegal in these conditions alone. In Ireland the cabinet essentially does what it wants for five years and people then get to decide whether they approves or not.
It’s appalling legislation that not many people know about, never mind having a say in it. And actually you do get to choose which laws you obey, you just have to live with the consequences of those choices.
Did Fine Gael and Labour not win the majority of the seats in the Dáil? Did they not form a government with the largest majority in the history of the state?
Yes, we elect our TDs once every five years, but that’s how parliamentary democracies work – the people set the direction and give a mandate to their elected representatives, who iron out the details of taking the country in that direction.
Water charges have been on the cards for years (since before the last election) and clearly, the majority of people are in favour of it. I can’t imagine they would’ve voted in parties who had it among their stated policies if they weren’t. What this boils down to is a small minority of crusties thinking they know better than the electorate, overriding their democratic will and deeming themselves above the rule of law and democracy at large.
The fact that these crusties are making a virtue out of the natural consequences of breaking the law (i.e. getting arrested) makes the whole charade extra pathetic.
“States policies”? Labour directly opposed water charges when FF talked about bringing them in years ago.
The government is elected based on promises it makes. Labour and FG have broken dozens of key promises. They had a mandate to keep their promises. They broke it.
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/irish_constitution_1/constitution_fundamental_rights.html
Hey Sidewinder, he was arrested for obstruction which is an offence under section 12 of the Water Services Act 2007. That’s 2007, or 4 years before the formation of the FG/Labour government that you say “wrote in a law making such protests illegal in these conditions alone”.
Section 12 a: A person who obstructs or interferes with the exercise by a water services authority or any other prescribed person of powers vested in it or him or her under, or by virtue of, this Act commits an offence
Well I’ll give you that. I thought it was new. Still I’d reckon it’s not in the spirit of the law to arrest someone for a peaceful protest against measures that weren’t in place when that law was written.
The law was specifically written to stop people preventing people working on the water mains which is what John Lyons was doing. His argument that the Irish Water workers were “obstructing the path” just shows that he was as ignorant of the law as most people.
Peaceful protestors get arrested all the time and I think this arrest was exaclty in the spirit of the law.
I know peaceful protestors get arrested all the time, that doesn’t make it right.
“the people set the direction and give a mandate to their elected representatives”
What kinda feckin’ utopia are you living in Atlas, I want to live there too !!
me too. i wanna go there and party
I know you didn’t say this but when I see people carrying placards saying “peaceful protest” and shouting “this is a peaceful protest” I wonder do they think that this grants them some sort of immunity.
If a protest, however peaceful, breaks the law then arrest may well be the consequence and that in no way denies people the right to protest peacefully (which, again, I know you didn’t say).
Ah it’s da law…
On a beautiful day like this the view from your tower must be amazing.
PbP councillor manages to raise media profile in otherwise futile protest action, where’s the news here?
It is ridicilis
Could someone explain section 12 to me? I’ve read it and I don’t understand it: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2007/en/act/pub/0030/sec0012.html#sec12
Basically, it criminalises interference with Irish Water staff, including contracted staff. Part (b) is slightly more vague but it could come to include interference with a meter after the fact, as that would prevent the occupier from carrying out their lawful duty, ie to pay their bill. It could catch any interference that didn’t amount to damaging the meter and so wouldn’t be covered by criminal damage.
Thanks. It was all very vague to me :-)
I think they deliberately write these statutes to be as vague and ambiguous as possible and in extremely flowery language just so solicitors and the judiciary can say they spent 4 hours, at 9 jillion euro per hours, interpreting the law. It should be :
THE LAW IS BROKEN IF
(1) You kick a man in the balls
not
(1) Persuant to Section 1a (Subsection 12) of the Scrotal Inferfence Act of 2009, notwithstanding the amendments in the Testicular Engagement with Feet Order of 1999 (Paragraph 3a Subsection 2), the Minister……. blah blah blah
I know the law is the law, and in this new No-discression era for Gardai, issues involving the police have become tricky , but the Gardai really have to have a think about whether is its usefull to be arresting public representatives ….
So public representatives get a bye ? Quick, some go get Ivor and tell him he can leave prison right now.
If the Gardai were enforcing the law, wht are they allowing irish Water to close roads without road closure licences, arrest excavator drivers fro endangering the public, etc, etc
The Gardai are acting as corporate security guards, not even fulfilling there laughable goal of keeping the pecace, they continue to lose the respect of the public.
No roads in my area were closed ?
And are you talking about people who purposely walk in front of the excavators dangering themselves ?
They love using that word “shame”.
Generally, if there’s a dispute between Gardaí and Trotskeyites who don’t believe in private property but believe in world communism and permanent revolution, I know which side I’m usually going to go with.
thugs blocking footpaths=trotskyites? you may need to read up on your revolutionary tracts
The way to do civil disobedience properly is: act with dignity; keep it simple; and be unfailingly polite to the police, no matter how they speak or behave towards you.
Sit down, cause an obstruction, get arrested. Don’t argue. Don’t talk back. Don’t get into a verbal row: you’re not trying to convince the police, you’re trying to convince the public. Use your arrest to get media attention. Explain to the media why you did what you did. Tell them you broke the law because you believe the law is wrong.
Stay on message. If you’re opposed to water meters, don’t start complaining that water-meter installers haven’t “established a propoer work-station”. Don’t complain about how the police are behaving. Your message is “water meters are a bad thing”, not “water meter installers are not following procedure”, and definitely not “I hate the police”.
You want to spread a simple message and an example of calm, stoic dignity. Muddying the waters with convoluted arguments, rows about the constitution, complaints about the police and emotional calls-to-arms will stir up agitation, but it won’t generate the focused consensus that drives meaningful change. The establishment like the public to be anxious, fearful and confused: it makes reactionary politics much easier. Don’t be that kind of politician. Don’t stir people up. Don’t get into verbal rows or confrontations.
Wear a suit. Speak softly. The battle to win people’s minds is a battle in which there is no enemy.
Well done to you, that’s a perfect post and perfect reasoning.
we hear so much about the right to protest from these guys but the concept of effective protestng seems lost on many. I believe most ue it as a channel for their aggression because theyu’re just unhappy and want to blame someone.
I think it would be quite myopic to assume this is the only thing tactic he is taking. As someone who has been on more than a few protests it annoys me no end when people tell me that protesting isn’t enough. As though by getting this one glimpse of me at a march they have some kind of confirmation that I do nothing else for my cause.
best post I ever read here. bravo
I was waiting for someone to say “assault”
1.02.
How come these people can get time off work to protest anyway?
Another dig at the unemployed. Goodness knows the country would have 100% employment if only people weren’t so lazy.
Have you never heard of shift work Moocher? Not everybody works the same hours.
fupp the unemployed they should be put in forced chain gang labour camps right?
What happens if you ‘peacefully’ burgle someone’s house?
Break the law – face the consequences.
Save the environment – SUPPORT WATER CHARGES & END WANTON WASTE!!!!!
Utterly daft comparison. This man is not committing a crime against any individual.
i’d love to do a peaceful protest in front of you, just stand in front of you all the time because i disagree with your beliefs. Bet you’d like to see the law arrest me then champ
Following me everywhere in everything I do would clearly be harassment. Stopping me from doing one particular thing would be a protest.
Or love.
Stalking’s not protesting :)
Ah, another ‘it’s da law’
I support charges of every kind.. coz charges save the environment!!!!!!
Why didn’t someone say so earlier.
@ jeanclaudetrichet You’re deluded if you think the water charges have anything to do with ending wanton waste.
explain your view please
Godwin aside, if a law came out tomorrow forbidding Jews from sitting on park benches, would the people here saying “it’s the law” support it or protest it?
Is the German Nazi government at fault there or the German people who went along with it?
The answer to that is; don’t think.. If it’s da law, it’s da law.