'Gardaí armed for May Day' - Business Post

dublin | summit mobilisations | news report

Sunday April 18, 2004 14:17

by HACK SOUND

The Sunday Business Post
Front Page, April 18th 2004

By: Barry O’Kelly, Crime Correspondent

Armed gardai will patrol the streets of every Dublin city garda district from tomorrow week as part of an unprecedented security operation to combat violent protests during the EU May Day celebrations.

The Sunday Business Post has learned that gardai will have six water cannons on standby, that surveillance will be mounted on ports, hotels, and guest houses, and that a record 7,800 officers – more that half the force – will be on duty on May 1.

The armed street patrols will begin six days before the celebrations on May 1.

A special Garda unit in Harcourt Square in Dublin is gathering intelligence from internet sites run by anarchist and anti-globalisation groups, detectives have revealed.

Garda sources said up to 15,000 demonstrators from across Europe are expected to take part in the protests against the May Day events.

The details of known activists will be circulated this week to gardai, who will mount checks on all entry points into the state.

Water Cannons have been borrowed from police in the North. Gardai have been trained in the use of the cannons, which have never been used in the Republic, by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) over the past four weeks. One anti-globalisation website, run by Indymedia, last week urged protestors to come equipped with “foam padding, helmets, shields, shin guards, inflatable rubber rings, gas masks and eye goggles”.

It advised against violence, but also offered tips on how groups could “de-arrest” people arrested by the gardai. “A hooded top will cover most of your face and a baseball cap on its own provides good protection from most static cameras, which are usually mounted high up,” the website advises.