Article from the March 2006 issue of the Socialist
newspaper of the Socialist Party, Irish section of the CWI
EDITORIAL:

Dublin riot - no clampdown on civil liberties

On 25 February the people of Dublin got a glimpse of the sectarian conflict that has plagued Northern Ireland for decades. Love Ulster planned to march from Parnell Square to the Dail via O'Connell Street. The organisers of this demonstration claimed they were marching to highlight the suffering of the victims of republican paramilitaries to the public in the South.

Love Ulster is a sectarian campaign that loyalist paramilitaries played a key role in establishing. If the purpose of its Dublin demonstration was simply to highlight the suffering of Protestant victims of the republican paramilitaries, then why did it decide to march through Dublin with loyalist bands, and sectarian paraphernalia? The Socialist Party opposes the sectarian ideas and activities of organisations like Love Ulster, however we defend their right to march, even in Dublin if they wish.

Yet they were prevented from marching by a counter-protest called by Republican Sinn Fein (RSF). This counter-protest turned into a full-scale riot within minutes of the designated starting time of the Love Ulster parade. The Socialist Party recognises the right to counter-protest by anyone who wished to express their opposition to Love Ulster, but we would be opposed to any attempt to prevent the march by force.

Petrol bombs, fireworks, and other weapons had been brought to the counter-protest by some republican demonstrators thus indicating an element of pre-meditation for the riot. The Socialist Party condemns those who deliberately organised this sectarian riot. The Orange and Green sectarians of Love Ulster and RSF and their associates having nothing to offer the working class of this island, North or South.

Many of the young people who participated in this sectarian riot are alienated from society through poverty and social conditions. However this does not excuse the sectarian nature of what took place. We also abhor and oppose the acts of some rioters and the destruction of working class people's property including the smashing up and burning of cars and in one incident the vicious assault on three migrant shop workers.

In the Dail debate on these events Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins contrasted this sectarian march and riot with the recent events of the postal workers' strike in Belfast. "Let us contrast Saturday's disgusting scenes with those of a few weeks ago, when striking postal workers in Belfast, Protestant and Catholic, marched together up the Shankill Road and down the Falls Road in a united working class demonstration."

It is the actions of the Belfast postal workers and their instinctive class unity that points a way forward for the working class of Northern Ireland not the politics or activities of the nationalist or unionist sectarian parties or the bigots of Love Ulster or RSF.

At a meeting of Dublin City Council the City Manager John Fitzgerald raised the call for curbs to be placed on the right to protest in Dublin city centre. He said, "We need to have a look again at the regulatory framework and the legislation that surrounds the use of the city centre and O'Connell Street." According to The Irish Times, 7 March 2006, "he said he would consult the council's law agent before returning to the councillors with draft regulations on the use of the street." His remarks were supported by Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour councillors and in the Dail by Bertie Ahern. The Socialist Party will oppose and campaign against any attacks on civil liberties and attempts to restrict the right to protest in Dublin.

As Joe Higgins said in the Dail, "All, whether it be the farming community, trade unions, community organisations or political organisations, have the democratic right to come to the centre of their capital city and show their cause....we will not tolerate any attempts by bureaucrats or anyone else to prevent our right to demonstrate peacefully and democratically in the centre of this city of Dublin."

The events in Dublin on 25 February stem from the failure of the so-called "peace process". The Good Friday Agreement has institutionalised sectarianism in Northern Ireland and increased polarisation between Catholics and Protestants.

We need a new mass working class party in Northern Ireland to unite Catholic and Protestant working class people in opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of Blair's government and the sectarian parties. Such a party can build unity on class issues and present a non-sectarian alternative on issues such as parades, based on consensus and respect for the rights of all communities and the right of the working class to live their lives free from sectarian conflict.