Press Release- May Day defendants should have been granted bail in clover hill

national | summit mobilisations | press release

Wednesday May 05, 2004 20:00

by rory hearne - another europe is possible

Press Release- Those charged with public order offences from May Day should have been granted bail

Press Release- Those charged with public order offences from May Day should have been granted bail in Clover Hill

Another Europe is Possible (the broad alliance that organised the two-thousand strong march and carnival from Central Bank to Heuston Station on May Day) condemns the refusal of bail by Judge John Coughlan at Cloverhill District Court to the twelve men charged with public order offences arising from incidents during the May Day march to Farmleigh House. The men were then forced to go to the High Court where their application for bail was granted.

Press Release- Those charged with public order offences from May Day should have been granted bail in Clover Hill

Another Europe is Possible (the broad alliance that organised the two-thousand strong march and carnival from Central Bank to Heuston Station on May Day) condemns the refusal of bail by Judge John Coughlan at Cloverhill District Court to the twelve men charged with public order offences arising from incidents during the May Day march to Farmleigh House. The men were then forced to go to the High Court where their application for bail was granted.

Rory Hearne, Convenor Another Europe is Possible, said- “The decision by Judge John Coughlan was a clear contravention of the law which states that you are innocent until proven guilty. All the accused are on minor charges yet the Judge decided that they could not be granted bail because of the seriousness of the charges. Students doing important exams and a father of two kids were being denied their civil rights because they were arrested at a political protest.

This was a blatant attempt to intimidate and criminalise those who attend political protests. We argued that the state put in place a strategy of fear and tension both in the run up to May Day and on the day itself with scare stories of violence and the deployment of thousands of riot police and water cannon. This strategy was aimed to intimidate people from protesting on May Day. Despite that over two thousand marched on the Another Europe is Possible demo and thousands marched with Grassroots Gathering to Farmleigh House. We saw today with the harsh treatment of those arrested that they are continuing that intimidation. We are asking if this is an attempt by the state to harshly punish protestors in the run up to the visit of George Bush and thus hopefully intimidate protestors from taking to the streets when he arrives in June”

Contact Rory Hearne at 086 1523542 or Brian Cuddy at 0877759614 or Mark Grehan at 0877974622

Another Europe is Possible is a broad alliance of political parties, community groups and trade unionists

www.freewebs.com/anothereuropeispossible