SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT A lot has been written and reported today about yesterdays protest. Here is our accurate and honest account of what happened..... Joan Bruton arrived just before midday and entered the building. At this stage there was less than 40 protesters in attendance, mostly made up of various page admins from different areas of Tallaght. While she was inside the crowd started to get bigger. About 12.25 the graduates left and walked down to the church where they were applauded by the protesters. Then Bruton appeared and was escorted by the guards down to the church. She was heckled and questioned by the protesters and all the time she just laughed and smirked at us. Someone threw a water balloon at her and later some child threw an egg. She was angry, you could see, but she continued smirking. When they entered the church the protesters waited outside. We made it clear to her that we would be waiting for her when she reappeared. Contrary to what certain papers reported today, the graduation ceremony DID go ahead. When she exited she was rushed around the side of the church and into a car where the protesters surrounded her and asked her to come out and answer questions. She refused. We decided that she would not leave until she did, so we had a sit down behind the car. This was all very peaceful until the guards tried to remove us forcefully. They couldnt.. They eventually got her into a garda car and tried to leave while the guards attacked protesters. We eventually agreed with the sergeant on duty that we would slow march her out of Tallaght but then the riot squad arrived and started to get heavy handed with us so we sat down in the street and refused to move again until they were removed.......after 5 mins of a stand off they stepped aside. We continued our slow march and finally stepped aside at 3.45. There was no arrests of any protesters. Yes there was a small group of teenagers who had nothing better to do than throw eggs and call the guards names but they were not part of what was a PEACEFUL PROTEST. After Bruton left Tallaght scuffles broke out with some young kids about 500 meters away from where the protesters were. This lasted about 15 mins and there were two arrests made. One of these was the boy who threw the rock and the other was for an outstanding warrant. Anything else you hear is absolute lies. Thanks you to everyone who came out yesterday and peacefully protested. We are proud of you all. And here is a message for the youths who tried to disrupt it. Please STAY AWAY in the future. We dont want the publicity that you are seeking. Remember, we are campaigning for YOUR FUTURES too !!!
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 19:53:46 +0000
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