Workers Solidarity Movement

A large force of Garda and council workers were deployed at 3.30am today, International Women's Day, to clear Occupy Dame Street (ODS) camp. The camp was completely demolished in the course of the eviction, campers intimidated and their personal property stolen. This was a level of force way out of proportion with the numbers in the camp (about 15 people) and stands in contrast with the lack of resources put into investigating what happened at Anglo, the collapse of which has left a debt of 26,000 Euro on every single person in the country.  

A General Assembly will take place at the former camp location at the Central Bank at 18.00 this evening.

The end of February saw 19 Shell to Sea campaigners, including a WSM member, being prosecuted on 80 charges for civil disobediance against Shell's decade long attempt to impose an experimental high pressure raw gas pipeline on the communities of Erris.  Over 8,000 euro in fines were handed down by this special sitting of the Belmullet court and Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway was given two 3-month prison sentences under section 8 of the Public Order Act for blocking the road on two seperate occasions, a 'crime' that anyone following the struggle will be aware Shell's private security company committs three times a day with the co-operation of the Gardai.

(Image: Community show support in advance of the court cases, J Bender, RSC)

Up to 20 people took part in the name and shame tour on Saturday of some of the biggest names on our high street including McDonalds, Primark and Top shop organised by Youth Fight for Jobs.  Protestors, including members of the WSM and the Socialist Party, visited these high street stores during the busy shopping day giving speeches and handing out leaflets to members of the public, to the chants of ’No Pay no Way’.

Print workers threatened with redundancy at the Belfast Telegraph have started a campaign to save their jobs and keep the print run of the newspaper in the city beginning with a rally outside its premises on Saturday.

On Wednesday 29^th February, over 200 people marched on the streets of Galway against the government’s ongoing attacks on the education sector. The march was organised by Free Education For Everyone (FEE) Galway in conjunction with NUIG Students Union, to fight back against cuts including the increase of third-level fees to €3000 by 2015, abolition of postgraduate grants and the slashing of the numbers of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs), which FEE views as part of the wider neo-liberal attack on free education and further argues that all of these measures make education increasingly inaccessible to working-class people.

The latest in a series of meetings in the Dublin 1/3/7 area took place in the Mount Carmel Centre on Nelson St on Wednesday evening, covering the Dominic St, Dorset St and Blessington Basin areas. Despite the competing attractions of the “boys in green” and Olly Murs, about 25 people were in attendance.

As part of the National Day of Action activists from various towns and villages across Co.Mayo gathered in Castlebar on Saturday to host an information stall in the county town center. The mood from passers by was one of defiance and fear. The vast majority of people stated the had not registered and do not wish to do so.

Anger at threatened closure of smaller rural schools

Thousands rallied and marched through the streets of Castlebar on Saturday 25^th to protest the governments plan to further destroy rural life by closing small schools.

Shocking video has emerged of a Garda attack on a local resident, John Monagahan, at a roadblock the police were operating on behalf of Shell. The video shows the car being stopped at the roadblock and then you can hear the Garda smashing in the drivers window of his car with a baton before threatening to pepper spray him.  John had just left his home some 500m away.

A meeting calling for abortion legalisation in Ireland, at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin, was filled to capacity last night as hundreds crammed into the room. The meeting marked 20 years from the X-case and the failure of all the political parties in the years since to legislate for the limited abortion provision required by the X-case court judgement.  The clear message was that it was time for Action on X.

The first speaker, journalist Vincent Brown described the long fight for abortion rights in Ireland, from the so -called 'pro-life' referendum in 1983, to the X-case in 1992 and the referendums afterwards.