"Brits Out , IMF Out!"Republican Sinn Féin had two different 'teams' out in Dublin yesterday , Saturday 27th November 2010 , at the ICTU-organised protest march in Dublin : one 'team' assembled at 10.45am on the traffic isle facing the GPO , while the second one assembled at 11.15am at Wood Quay , the main assembly point. Incidentally , members of both RSF 'teams' were present on the 'secondary' march , which made its way to Leinster House after the main event to continue the protest and was bullied , en route and once there, by uniformed 'guardians of the State' , as expected.
Our estimate as to the numbers present - and we are 'old hands' at street demos! - is between 100,000 and 150,000 people : at one stage , protestors , banners and placards could be seen to have secured all available space between O'Connell Bridge and the old Ambassador Cinema , with the main concentration gathered around the GPO area and, in our opinion, even more would have turned-out had it not been for the heavy snow and ice that we woke-up to here that morning. The mood was one of anger , and not only at the politicians and bankers etc that have thieved from the State purse and bankrupted this State , but also at some trade union leaders - Jack O'Connor and David Begg were , once again, poorly received by the crowd and, at points throughout their speeches, they could not be heard, such was the level of 'cat-calls' for them to stand down. In contrast , singers Christy Moore and Francis Black were well-received, as was the pensioner and the now-unemployed apprentice plumber who was let go just before his time was up.
For its part , Republican Sinn Féin distributed 2,000 leaflets (including '90th Celebrations' leaflets and 'CABHAIR SWIM' leaflets) and sold almost 100 copies of its newspaper , 'Saoirse'. As we have mentioned on our 'Sister Site' (linked to , below - with more protest pics on view, as well) protests like this are necessary and welcome but, on their own, are only a stop-gap 'solution' : it is not simply those that 'run' this State that need to be changed, but the very State itself , which must be re-organised and changed dramatically, on a 32 County basis, in favour of its citizens, rather than- as is the position now- in favour of its so-called 'elite'.
However : RSF more than held its own in Dublin City Centre yesterday, and was very well received by the crowds, and is to be congratulated for the two 'teams' it managed to put out there. We publish some pics from the protest, with a link to more of same at the bottom of this post :
A Dublin RSF member on the protest march - "Get Up , Stand Up...."
Some of the RSF members and supporters at the protest.
RSF 'Community Sector' placard.
Some of the 100,000-150,000 crowd.
Cowen the Reaper.
RSF 'Community Sector' headstone placard.Well done to RSF and all the other organisations and individuals that were present at the protest and, hopefully, the ICTU will take comfort from the turn-out and take this issue to the next stage : an all-out strike , on a regular basis, with those on strike being bussed to the city centre of their nearest town to hold a sit-down protest. The support is definitey there , but the determination to do so is lacking on behalf of the trade union leadership . Shame on them.
As stated - more pics from this protest can be viewed on our 'Sister Site' , here (with thanks to TC, our camera person on the day!).
Thanks for reading,
Sharon.
