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The Gardaí has launched an investigation to establish who organized a protest in Dublin city center that resulted in the arrest of eleven people.
Gardaí arrested nine men and two women, between the ages of 20 and 60.
Nine of the people have been charged with public order offenses, while the remaining two have been offered adult warnings.
Gardaí believes the rally started with so-called “Ireland’s yellow vest” protesters who were joined by a variety of others, including so-called anti-mask, anti-vaccine and anti-immigrant protesters.
Protesters at their first meeting at O’Connell Bridge were warned that they were violating Covid-19 restrictions, which only allow people to leave their homes for essential reasons and not for protests.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said they were “forced to intervene” during the demonstration.
Gardaí said they “engaged the protesters on several occasions using graduated police response.”
Approximately 200 people were prevented by a large Gardaí force from marching towards the Convention Center where the Dáil was sitting and subsequently attempting to blockade Dublin Port on East Wall Road.
The group then dispersed, but around 50 people moved to Grafton Street, where some broke a line of gardaí.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., a small group became involved in public order incidents, according to the Garda statement.
The public order unit was deployed and 11 people, nine men and two women, were arrested for public order offenses.
All eleven have since been released, but nine have been charged and must appear in court at a future date.
Gardaí says an investigation is now being carried out targeting the organizers of this protest and that the advice of the Director of the Public Ministry will be sought before further action is taken.
Gardaí has no role in allowing or authorizing protest marches or meetings and permission is not required for such events.
The statement concluded: “The Covid-19 pandemic remains a public health crisis and An Garda Síochána continues to call on all citizens to comply with public health guidelines and regulations, particularly essential travel, to continue Saving lives”.
In a separate investigation into an attack on a woman in her fifties who suffered facial injuries at another protest in Dublin city center last month, a man in his twenties was arrested and charged.
In another development, another man has been charged in connection with an assault on a woman at a different protest in Dublin last month.
The woman, who is in her 50s, suffered facial injuries.
The man, who is in his 20s, is due to appear in court tomorrow.
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