when people take to the streets to let the government know they are pissed off with the incompetence but the tanaiste thinks this is what its about WE ARE FUCKED
SUN, 28 FEB, 2021 - 11:59
DANIEL MCCONNELL, POLITICAL EDITOR
The violence on the streets of Dublin on Saturday was “not a protest, it was a riot” according to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
Speaking on Newstalk radio, Mr Varadkar said it was lucky that no one was seriously injured or killed during violent clashes between Gardai and anti-lockdown protestors on Grafton Street.
Some 23 people were arrested after the clashes in the centre of Dublin, which saw three gardaí injured.
“It wasn't a protest, it was a riot, and there's no excuse for using that kind of violence to advance a political cause no matter what that causes,” he said.
“We're just lucky that somebody didn't get seriously injured or killed. And I have to say, I think the gardaí did an amazing job. They took control of the situation really quickly got control the situation very quickly thereafter, and the fact that we saw people being brought to court. That very night was a really good example of very swift and very effective policing,” Mr Varadkar added.
The Tánaiste said that as we are still in a pandemic really there shouldn't be any protests.
“I'm a great believer in free speech and nobody ever wants to ban protests, but gatherings of this nature are not allowed in level five lockdown and wide social distance protests are possible.”
Mr Varadkar said there are all sorts of protest movements, down the years and it isn't unusual for any protest movement to have a sinister fringe, which will have a different agenda.
“That agenda might go beyond the issue at hand, and those people might, might turn to violence or, you know, we saw that many times in recent years in Ireland, unfortunately,” the Tánaiste added.
In the Sunday Times, some protestors in Dublin yesterday were asked why they were protesting or how it was linked to RTÉ, the state broadcaster.
Those quoted outlined a conspiracy theory that involved babies being killed and harvested for “adrenochrome” which is used to keep RTE celebrities “looking young” while the corpses are buried under the new children’s hospital.
The two claimed the government were “basically paedophiles” and that there were videos explaining this on a website known for hosting far-right speakers and conspiracy theories.
Mr Varadkar said such commentary was “bonkers” and similar to the kind of conspiracy theories heard from far-right supporters in the United States.
He said social media platforms should take down or stop messaging which promotes extreme or illegal activity.
“It will be possible to order platforms to take down harmful content if they don't do that already. And anything that incites violence in my view is harmful content. And I think there's a responsibility on some of the social media platforms as well, to do the exact same. But often the stuff isn't hosted on the major platforms that are household names, there are some fringe ones out there as well, that aren't regulated in Ireland, of course,” he said.
