Garda chief defends response to violence
MAYHEM Footage of weekend unrest with people jumping on cars
GARDA Commissioner Drew Harris defended a baton charge on crowds in Dublin over the Bank Holiday weekend.
He insisted “appropriate” measures were taken against “an element intent on trouble and causing violence”.
The top cop also singled out the selling of takeaway alcohol from pubs and restaurants, which he claimed led to drinking in public places and attacks on gardai, criminal damage and general public disorder.
Speaking in Limerick yesterday, Mr Harris said: “What we had last weekend was violence due to large amounts of young people who had drink taken.
“Some of them were very drunk, but then there was an element within that group who were intent on trouble and causing damage and causing violence. There were attacks on members of An Garda Siochana, there were assaults within groups fighting within the crowds and there was also criminal damage and we have a responsibility to respond to that.”
Mr Harris added the incidents were “a spontaneous gathering of young people and we didn’t have a control of it and we didn’t have a means of licensing it”.
He said: “In effect we had to deal with individuals that turned up and the difference from the weekend before seems to be that there was a group intent on causing harm through violence or criminal damage through the burning of bins.
“There’s a lot of drink being taken and inevitably that has ended up then in public order difficulties that we’ve had to deal with.”
Commissioner Harris rejected criticism the Garda response may have been over-reactionary, insisting members were simply doing their job by responding to violent events.
He added: “I would say that our use of force and our policing tactics were appropriate to the situation that we faced and I would reiterate that, in acting in how we did, I believe we prevented the situation from deteriorating further.”
Mr Harris said people were entitled to make a complaint to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission.
Justice Minister Heather Humphreys added the trouble was caused by “only a small number of people” and “the majority of people who have been out and about across the length and breadth of the country have behaved in a very responsible way”.
She praised the cooperation between businesses, communities and gardai in managing the phased reopening.
And she rejected claims that gardai did not have a plan in place to deal with large crowds.
An element intent on trouble and causing violence
DREW HARRIS ON WHAT COPS FACED IN DUBLIN