East Wall residents who were told by Minister Roderic O’Gorman that a centre for migrants and refugees would go ahead despite local concerns, have now blocked the Port Tunnel and the East Wall Road.
Local spokesman, Malachy Steenson said that tonight’s protest was just a “small taste of what is to come” if the government continued to ignore the people living in East Wall. He said that “protests will escalate, not just in East Wall, or in Dublin but countrywide where other communities are facing the same imposition. This will go on until the Government comes to its senses.”
The protests took a new turn as local residents blocked the Port Tunnel, causing major traffic disruption for a hour at peak rush hour, forcing cars and other vehicles to be diverted through Sherriff Street.
Up to 300 protestors gathered this evening, with one local woman telling Gript that people had “no intention of backing down because the community was ignored by a Minister who didn’t even bother telling us before bringing hundreds of young single men who are not vetted into our area”.
She said that the “media had spent a week trying to label ordinary working people as racist, but that the same people would not want hundreds of strangers suddenly arriving in their area, without identity papers very often.”
“We were told this was for Ukrainian refugees and then other people are bussed in at night. We can’t trust the government and the local TDs anymore. We need to make sure our community is safe,” she said.
An hour before the protest began, a number of media sites reported that the Minister had stated categorically that the centre will remain open. The report referred to the claim that another 280 people will be housed in East Wall over the coming weeks in addition to the 100 men already there.
The blocking of the tunnel is in line with the statement by local spokesperson Malachy Steenson who told Gript that the refusal of the Government representatives to properly engage would inevitably lead to an escalation of the protest.
Speaking after this evening’s protest, Mr Steenson said that what had taken place at the Port Tunnel represented the “first escalation of the protests which the ministers were informed last Friday would follow their refusal to provide an undertaking that the centre would be closed.”
Mr Steenson said that tonight’s protest was just a “small taste of what is to come” if the “government continues to refuse to respond to the demands of the local community”. He said that “protests will escalate, not just in East Wall, or in Dublin but countrywide where other communities are facing the same imposition. This will go on until the Government comes to its senses.”
Another protest is planned for East Wall in Wednesday evening at 5pm.
Up to 300 protestors have blocked the Port Tunnel and adjoining East Wall road in another protest tonight over asylum seekers moving into the area. Protests are now going on over a week. #EastWall #Dublin pic.twitter.com/WqHssdyEZp
— Alison O’Reilly (@AlisonMaryORE) November 28, 2022
Video Clip Credits: Late Stage Ireland / Telegram