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Gardaí Endanger Life In Mayo
 national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report
 Monday November 12, 2007 11:20 by éirígí - Oifig Phreas press at eirigi dot org (0044) 07831728438
Gary Ronaghan, the man struck by a lorry at Friday’s anti-Shell protest in Bellanboy county Mayo, is to make a formal complaint to the Garda Ombudsman in relation to the events leading up to, and following on from, the incident which saw the Monaghan man’s life placed in extreme danger.
 Protecting Shell's property in Bellanaboy Gary, who travelled to Mayo with a contingent of more than thirty éirígí activists, had his foot trapped for several seconds under the rear wheel of a large lorry belonging to Lennon’s Quarries Ltd - a company which has been supplying stone to the Shell site in Bellanboy. Following treatment in Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar it emerged that his foot had suffered tissue damage, in addition to severe bruising and swelling. Medical staff believe that, had Gary not been wearing steel-toe-capped boots, the damage would have been far worse.
Gary’s complaint to the ombudsman will focus on both the manner in which the Gardaí dealt with the sit-down protest and the manner in which the Gardaí dealt with him following the crushing of his foot.
Speaking on Sunday evening Gary said, “I went to Mayo on Friday to protest at the giveaway of the Corrib gas-field and the way in which Shell and the government are forcing a gas refinery and experimental pipeline upon the people of Erris. I was willing to take part in a peaceful sit-down protest if need be and having seen how the Gardaí previously dealt with these protests I knew I might expect to wake up with a few bruises on Saturday morning. At no time did I expect to end up being almost killed by a lorry.
“I have no problem admitting that I was part of a sit-down protest. I believe that the issues surrounding the Corrib Gas controversy are of such importance that the use of non-violent civil disobedience tactics is justified. It was clearly apparent on Friday that the Gardaí are completely unable, or unwilling, to deal with such protests in a proper manner.
“It was nothing short of lunacy to attempt to move a massive, fully-loaded lorry through hundreds of people, many of whom were lying or sitting on the road. The Garda appeared to be making it up as they went along. When faced with scores of people sitting on a road would it not have made far more sense to ensure that the road was fully safe before instructing the driver of the lorry to move forwards?
“While my foot has been seriously injured it could have been far worse. It could have been someone’s head or body that went under that lorry. Indeed the negligence of the Garda operation put not only protesters lives at risk but also those of the Gardaí themselves.
“The driver of that lorry could not have been able to clearly see around the entire vehicle. He was following the direction of the Gardaí who were instructing him when to move forward and when to stop. And yet, not one Garda could possibly have been able to see all around that lorry to ensure that it was safe to proceed.
“When the lorry went over my foot I was being manhandled by at least two Gardaí. The entire situation was in a state of flux with a mass of bodies, both protesters and Gardaí within inches of the moving vehicle. Why did the Gardaí not instruct the driver to wait until it was safe to move on?
“The worst part was when the lorry actually came to a stop on top of my foot. The pain was excruciating, I thought my entire foot had been crushed. As soon as I started shouting for help other protesters saw what was happening and began shouting at the Gardaí to move the lorry off my foot, but it still took a couple seconds for the lorry to move on.
“I was told later that a number of Gardaí who were asked to take witness statements in relation to the incident refused to do so. One Garda actually told a witness that he hadn’t ‘got the faculty’ to take a statement’ – which is absolutely bizarre. The numbers of these Gardaí were noted and this will form part of my complaint to the Ombudsman.
“In addition, it appears that all of the normal protocols relating to road traffic accidents were ignored. As far as I can determine the driver of the lorry that ran over my foot was not stopped or questioned at the scene, nor were witness statements sought. Indeed, it appears that the driver was directed by the Gardaí away from the scene of the incident and that witnesses were deliberately discouraged from making statements.”
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Comments (26 of 26)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26If the gards won't take it, do it as common complainant in court, as Niall Harnett did before.
If the road is blocked and the Gardai order the driver to drive through the crowd, then that is conspiracy to cause bodily harm, reckless endangerment, dangerous driving. You could have the Road Traffic Acts, and Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act as well as Public Order Acts on the driver and the Garda who ordered him forward.
It's not a procedural slap on the wrists these boyos need. They should get the same treatment that you would get if you attempted to drive a truck through a crowd of peaceful people. Nothing less.
Beir Bua.
Same old shit from the Cops. This is what they respresent - defending the interests of Capital. It is quite amazing that there were not more sever injuries given the brutality that they meted out.
Some day those engaging in peaceful protest won't be so reserved in their response to this State brutality
CS
mention 'Donegal Guards' and you are reminded of garda corruption.
mention 'Mayo Guards' and you are reminded of thuggery.
Some of them may be outsiders but it is the reputations of the Mayo gardai en masse that are going down the toilet.
It's a long way back
I was in Mayo on Friday and watched the Garda operation first-hand. The wonder is that only one person was seriously injured by the lorry. I'm not sure it was clear on RTE or TV3 exactly how dangerous the situation actually was. There were according to the media reports somewhere between 200 and 300 people invovled in the protest - my guess is that at least 150 were directly involved in the sit-down element. In addition to the protesters there were at least 300 cops in Bellanboy and at least 200 of them were involved in clearing people off the road.
So there was somewhere in excess of 300 people in the direct vicinity of that lorry as it drove up the road. The driver was doing whatever the cops told him to do. So when they told him to move, despite the fact that there were hundreds of people all around his lorry, he did so and now we see the result. The question they now need to answer is this - Had the garda no protocols in place to deal with this sort of situation or had they not thought about the various scenarios that they might face on friday?
It was nothing short of criminal negligence to keep moving the lorry in the way that they did. Mr Ronaghan has made the point that it could have been a lot more serious and he is dead right. The cops could have had a dead protester on their hands or even a dead cop. The whole thing demonstrated to me that the cops are still the bungling, incompetant - beat first/ ask questions later outfit that they have always been. I think they expected that once they had moved the first sit down protest that would be it. and that we would all stand on the side of the road. The energy and the bravery of the protesters stunned them - I believe there were at least eleven seperate occasions when blocks of people sat down on the road. It was clear by the time the lorry got to main gate that it was the cops who were beginning to break and not the protesters.
Whichever cop it was that told that lorrry to move forward while Mr Ronaghan foot was under the lorry should be held accountable for his neglignce. It is they who are directly responsible for his injuries and it is they that shold be the focus of any Ombudsman investigation.
The only person responsible for driving the truck is the truck driver.
If the gardai had told him to drive over a cliff would he have done so?
He knew the risk of driving a truck through a crowd of people. He should be charged with dangerous driving and would be if the gardai took their responsibility to uphold the law as seriously as they do protecting the interests of Shell.
I hope Gary gets a solicitor and sues the driver. He should be on a sure thing.
the gardai behaved outrageously at friday's demonstration they caused the accident and then forcibly moved the lorry up the road away from the scene.
Oooops - you forgot to mention that the truck that ran over the local protestor from Monaghan actually had nothing to do with Shell!
Oh and tissue damage, swelling and bruising hardly count as serious injuries! Not even a single broken bone FFS?!
The Garda are still thinking that brutality will dissuade people from making a legitimate protest; they're wrong entirely. All cases of abuse should be reported to the Garda Ombudsman, & documented as fully as can be (but if you've only one copy of a photo or video, get another copy before sending it!), & all eyewitness testimony or details written down soon as possible. Best wishes to Gary, very articulate report of the scene, & to all who came to protest & protect.
nobody is claiming the the man who was injured is 'local'. Its in the statement above that he is as you correctly point our from Monaghan - so what the point is that you are trying to make? Is it that only 'local' people have the right to protest at the giveaway of billions of euros worth of Irish gas? or is it that only 'local' people are allowed to protest at garda brutality? or is that only 'local' people have the right to protest against the installation of a highly questionable experimental pipeline? or perhaps its only 'local' people who are allowed to protest against the detruction of an area of outstanding natural beauty and unique environmental importance?
how was his life endangered?
If the title said "Gardai Endanger Foot" it'd sound less like the hyperbole that detracts from a campaign.
As follows:
The truck from Lennon Quarries was carrying stone from the quarry to service works currently being carried out at the Glenamoy River by the North West Regional Fisheries Board - NWRFB (subtext to this issue is whether it is normal practice to carry out work of this nature in salmonid rivers at this time of year - intelligent comments thereon welcomed).
That being the case, it was entirely unnecessary that the lorry travel via the oil road to reach its destination. It would have avoided such as happened by simply taking another route which would have brought it to the river without once placing truck or driver in the situation which occurred.
Posts by 'me' or any other 'local' troll can't deny that because, from 9a.m. onwards I observed a number of trucks from that quarry passing by the school where I teach. This road could have been used by the other lorry without incident.
For the benefit of readers not familiar with the area, it was a condition of ABP planning grant to the proposed refinery that traffic to and from the site follow a prescribed route (not always adhered to by the way). The truck involved in the incident last Friday was following that particular route when there was no need to do so and local knowledge should have dictated otherwise.
Futrther to Maura'a comments Lennon's Quarries are a major supplier of stone to the sHell site in Bellanboy. As a company they have closely aligned themselves with sHell despite the objections of many locals. Lennon's Quarry itself has previously been the subject of protest and was the scene of some of the worst Garda violence to date on Nov 10th 2007. It was there that Mick Nolan recieved a severe beating from the cops.
Honestly if you saw a moving truck coming down the road wouldn't you move out of the way? Maybe you pushed under the truck's tyre by a garda? Maybe the garda who didn't have the "faculty" to take a statement from you didn't want to prosecute you for obstruction of traffic. It is an offence you know.
The quarry owners are quite entitled to do business with whom ever they wish and no one can force them otherwise. Thats called democracy!!!!!!!!! That's where you get the right to protest but you do not have the right to obstruction the law or our roads
The Gardai don't want to arrest people cos they prefer to use vigilante methods. Their superiors have decided that it is more important to break the protest than it is to uphold the law. Political violent vigilantes... in uniform.
but as for your IFs...
IF a truck is already stopped because people are on the road.
and IF the Gardai order the driver to proceed
and IF the driver is stupid enough to think that he has to obey any and all instructions from a Garda, and IF he then proceeds to drive forward when he knows there are people in the way.
That is a Crime.
The driver is guilty of a number of crimes, under the non-fatal offences against the person act, Road Traffic Act, Public Order Act.
The Garda likewise could be done at a minimum for conspiracy to commit the above.
Go after them for it. That would send a message to other drivers that they cannot use trucks as battering rams.
And to Gardai that mimicing the tactics of the Chinese government is not acceptable in Ireland.
I was talking to a Mayo person yesterday who maintained that some of those in the Rossport are 'Continuity IRA types'.
The Mayo News this week quotes (without endorsing) a claim that 'SF people down from the north' are now involved in the protests.
I find both of these claims unlikely, but not impossible. So I'd like to hear the protesters' side of this story.
I heard that Al Qaeda was involved. It's unlikely, sure, but not impossible.
Can Maura Harrington prove that Al Qaeda are NOT involved?
"So I'd like to hear the protesters' side of this story."
Well, from Castlebar to Erris is not an awful long trip, so I suggest you go and find out for yourself.
If Continuity IRA supporters or provos do support the campaign I dont really see what the problem is with that.
They are entitled to their own opinions and this campaign falls into the broad Republican goal of protecting the natural recources of Ireland.
I see there has been no mention of the the 2 quarries in the local area that were targeted on the day of the protest.
Vehicles were smashed up and stones thrown through office windows.
Sums up the mentality of the so called peaceful protestors.
Shame on you....
... and great 'reconstructon of the crime' questionaire rehashed by the cops last Friday evening ...
'Paddy' should take note that the bogs are maintained as a result of rainfall - and people who live there didn't come down in a recent shower!!
This would be the same quarry from which a truck driver set-off towards Bellanaboy and then ran-over a protestors foot. Owned by an individual who sole concern is to line his pockets at the expense of other Erris families.
Sounds like you condone the use of violence against anyone who doest have the same opinion as you.
Do you really expect a quarry (which by the way, the sole purpose of which is to supply stone) to turn down this work...anybody from any area in Ireland would not turn this work down.
and Maura
We all know who was responsible for the quarry incidents..
You think you know; I have my own suspicions - until/unless the daft cop exercises of last Friday evening produce something that stands up in court, and subsequent appeal to higher court(s) then essentially, nobody 'knows' anything - apart from the perpetrators of the dastardly deed.
As indeed, only those who vandalised the Chief's boat at Belmullet know who they are - no expensive 'reconstruction' exercise undertaken on that one, was there?!
It seems to me that a lot of the criticism levelled at S2S comes from outsiders who don't have a clue and are not in touch with events in Bellenaboy. Have these people ever gone to the demonstrations, have they seen first hand what is reported or are they just quoting what they have read.
I am not in favour of violent demonstrations, but sometimes violence occurs, when you have a large group of people in a small area.
The policing tactics are highly questionable and have seemed only to inflame what is an intense and volitile situation, I would question the minister of justice,s tactics in deploying so many guards.
Let's remember what was being commemorated at Bellanaboy on Friday Nov.9th-
* Shell violence against peaceful activists in Nigeria
* State violence against peaceful protesters in Ireland.
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”