According to the Irish broadcaster RTÉ, there were clashes with the police when demonstrators tried to break into a centrally located park. According to police, people had gathered for a planned demonstration in Dublin city center. After the police surrounded the protest march, participants threw fireworks at the officers from a short distance. The police then used batons against the crowd.
More than 20 people were arrested. According to police, three officers were injured and one had to be taken to hospital.
The demonstrators no longer want their freedom of movement to be restricted by Corona
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Prime Minister Micheal Martin condemned the violent protests. They revealed “a complete lack of respect for the people who made huge sacrifices during this pandemic,” he said, referring to the restrictions to contain COVID-19. There could be “no justification for the march or the violence that has erupted”. Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also expressed his dismay. “Violence against police officers or anyone else is not excusable,” he wrote on Twitter.
Ireland got through the first two waves of the pandemic relatively lightly. After Christmas, the number of cases rose massively, at the beginning of January, according to data from Oxford University, the EU country had the highest infection rate in the world. Ireland is currently locked down for the third time. The government recently announced that it would maintain the highest lockdown level until at least April 5th. Bars, restaurants, cafés and hotels are not supposed to open before midsummer, but schools will gradually open from March.
The number of infections is now falling in Ireland. But the British virus variant B.1.1.7 has changed the situation significantly, Prime Minister Martin justified the decision. 90 percent of all new infections are now due to the faster-spreading virus type.
qu / cw (dpa, afp)
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