Why Anti-Lockdown Protests Should Be Banned

The unsavoury and despicable scenes during an anti-lockdown protest on Saturday brought shame to our capital. Fuelled by conspiracy theories that are rampant across social media, brought a violent edge to an already misguided protest in the middle of a pandemic.

There are genuine frustrations for many people regarding lockdowns but protesting in this current climate, while breaking public health guidelines undermines so much. Anti-lockdown protests should be banned. There is a fine line being played here with the right to protest at the heart of it but where a protest will inevitably cause a breach of peace causing harm to the public and as we saw at the weekend, the Gardaí, they should not be allowed go ahead. If you also consider that anti-lockdown protests may very well act as super spreader events for Covid-19 causing further harm to the public, there is little debate to be had whether they should be banned.

In reality, what we saw at the weekend was not a protest but a riot. You do not attend a protest and accidentally end up shooting a firework in the face of a Garda from 2 metres away. People who bring fireworks and weapons are not there to protest but to pick a fight. Firing a firework in the face of anyone intentionally shows a complete disregard for their life and those responsible should be prosecuted accordingly.

There were many underlying themes to the protest which will also prove problematic to society over time. Many of the people there were spawned because of far-right conspiracy theories they saw online. Numerous people debate what enables the far-right but my mind is clear, people who indulge to populism on a full-time basis, especially those in public life, enable their growth. The signage on showcase at the protest showed a clear attack on the media, vaccines, Government, and masks.

Thankfully, people right across the political spectrum united in their disdain for the scenes in Dublin bar one. Sinn Fein TD Reada Cronin, instead of condemning the scenes thought it was more appropriate to blame the rise of the far-right on Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party. Referring to people who were mocking a protestor’s sign which read “RTE SOLD THERE (sic) SOUL” she also laid much of the blame at the feet of the media and referred to some as “shite hawks”.

The key to fighting the rise of the far-right and the far-left for that matter, is not giving them an inch and holding total intolerance to such extreme views. Public figures like Ms.Cronin have a responsibility to stop pandering to base populism with attacks on the media and trying to turn a disgraceful event into political point scoring. Failing to do so allows conspiracy theories to flourish such as the one where people are genuinely made believe that the entire pandemic has been choreographed by the Irish Government. Reada Cronin should take guidance from her fellow Sinn Fein colleagues who rightfully condemned the events with no ‘but’ being used. It is that unity from all parties condemning the far-right that will stifle the growth of it.

Social media companies also play a vital role. There was video circulating on Saturday of how the riot broke out. It showed an unidentified male walking up and firing a firework at the Garda, leading to a charge by the police on the protestors. Conveniently, someone edited the clip to remove the part where the firework was fired and made it appear that the Gardai were the aggressive force against the protestors. It took the whole scene out of context and dragged it away from the truth. Because social media is so instant, social media companies have a massive challenge on their hands whereby they must stop the spread of fake news and altered news in relatively quick time.

Saturday was a very dark day for our country from the targeting of our police force by violent individuals, the erosion of our trusted media by rouge conspiracy theories seen elsewhere, the undermining of public health and also the undermining of the entire population who have sacrificed so much during this pandemic. It was an attack on the one thing we hold so dear, our democracy.

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