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 As Senior Police Officers Prepare for a Summer of Rage, protesters in Ireland say; “Tax the Greedy – Not the Needy!”
Over 120,000 people brough Dublin to a standstill on Saturday during a protest over the Irish Governments handling of the economic ressession. Organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions the demonstration marked the latest stage in a series of protests across Europe over governments handling of the growing crisis in capitalism.
 All across Europe but in particularly France, Greece, Iceland, Latvia and recently in Britain in support of workers at the Lyndsay Oil refinary, worlers have taken industrial action or have taken to the streets to demand that ordinary people should not have to pay the price for the crisis.
Carrying placards with slogans such as “Tax the Greedy – Not the Needy” people descended on Dublin from all over Ireland. The demonstration was called just days after another impressive demonstration was held outside the Irish Parliamnet, The Dáil, in protest at threats to charge a 10% pension levy on all public sector workers regardless of income.  Irish public sector workers voted overwhelmingly for strike action in opposition to the government proposals and they join workers at Waterford Crystal who have occupied their factory and Irish bus workers who earlier voted for indefinite strike action over attempted cuts and hundreds of sackings. As the ecomonic crisis worsens it is clear that demonstrations and protests against governments across Europe who attempt to make ordinary people pay the price for capitalisms failures will intensify.
The Telegraph Newspaper reports; Metropolitan Police Superintendent David Hartshorn has said police are bracing themselves for a "summer of rage" against the economic crisis. Supt Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan Police's public order branch, said he feared there could be "mass protest" at rising unemployment, failing financial institutions and the downturn in the economy.  "We've got G20 coming and I think that is being advertised on some of the sites as the highlight of what they see as a 'summer of rage'," he said. The officer added that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions of aid from the taxpayer, had also become "viable targets" for protesters.” (23rd Feb09)
For an update on the situation in France please click the articles section of our website and see a report by Leila Messaoundi on how Januarys general strike first but not last response to Sarkozy |
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