Harassment of Stalls in Galway, Again!

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Sunday December 21, 2003 22:33 by Orla Ni Chomhrai nichomhrai at eircom dot net

There was more harassment of streets stalls in Galway yesterday.

Yesterday 6 Guards tried to move the SWP stall off the streets in Galway, giving different excuses for trying to stop their activities and trying to get rid of them. This follows on from a situation a while back where a city warden tried to move various groups off the streets, including, ironically enough, the Defend Free Speech, Assembly and Activity stand and Guards were called on a woman who had a stand on Fair Trade and Debt and Development. Various groups got together and published a letter of protest saying they would not be bullied off the streets (see http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=61962 )

This time the move seems to have come straight from the Guards, and they seem to be acting on orders from higher up. This is more than likely an attempt to get opposition groups off the streets in the run up to an EU presidency meeting which will be taking place in Galway in mid-January.