32 towns and villages across Ireland have begun what protestors are calling Monday Marchers – a weekly assembly taking place in opposition to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and calling for health equality in the State.
Organisers said the protests “are organised and attended by ordinary citizens who have had little or no voice since March 2020 and the only common rule is to leave ideology and politics aside and assemble on a civil rights and liberty platform.”
They said the initial assemblies started in Cork during level 5 restrictions as an outlet to oppose the legislation – which they claimed Tánaiste Leo Varadkar described as “draconian” recently in the Dáil.
“As citizens some outlet was necessary to publicly question the effects of lockdown on liberty, education, health and the economy as no unbiased perspective was and is aired on mainstream media channels,” they said.
“A fair hearing request of the effects of lockdown is supported by recently released CSO mortality figures for 2020 which asks the question which was worse? The disease or the cure?” protestor Peter O’Donoghue from Fermoy asked.
Fermoy
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
He said that the first Rally against lockdown in Cork, on the 6th of March of this year was “intimidated” by Gardai.
“The event went off very successfully and there was well over 2000 people at the event, but it was the most intense, intimidating atmosphere I had ever experienced in my life,” he said.
“The Gardaí were everywhere, with helicopters hovering over our heads and the threat of arrest looming over us. For what? You ask. For just trying to implement our constitutional right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. That was all,” the activist claimed.
He also claimed that people had been prevented from attending the Rally due to the threats of arrest – and the ban on travelling.
“I wondered was there any way we could peacefully assemble in a less stressful way but still make a big impact. I knew there were many people in every town and village in Ireland, who didn’t agree with what was happening regards lockdown. I thought “why don’t I stand in the busiest place, within my own 5k, and let other people in the town of Fermoy and surrounding areas know that they are not the only ones that think the entire approach by the government to covid 19 was totally out of proportion and totally unacceptable,” he explained.
Mr O’Donoghue said that the numbers began to grow at local protests and the number of assemblies also began to increase.
“From this point on, the Monday assemblies snowballed,” he said. “Our aim at the beginning of this was to start up a conversation inside our own local communities and within families around the lockdown and vaccine passport issues and I think at least we have played a big role in our communities with that conversation now finally starting to happen.”
“Remember back in early March, it seemed like nobody was allowed have an opinion other than what was the status quo, so I do think we are progressing. We also aimed to break the taboo around protesting in rural Ireland.”
He said that if restrictions increased again in the late autumn, the protests would grow exponentially.
Pádraig Ó Maonaigh, who attends the weekly protest in Drogheda, said that it was “ ironic that when you need constitutional protections the most, they get suspended. This is what’s happened in Ireland. Our freedom to question, seek clarity, peacefully assemble, and oppose the anti-democratic nature of questionable emergency powers were removed.”
Drogheda
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
He said that Dr Marcus de Brún, a man he described as “eminent enough to be appointed to the Irish Medical Council” came out and highlighted the grossly negligent treatment of the biggest risk group to the new virus, the elderly. “Such treatment has resulted in nearly half of all Covid deaths in Ireland,” he said
“From there on, why wouldn’t you question a narrative which refuses to hold expert public debate,” he said.
“I feel we are starting to get a message out which questions the narrative while opposing toxic politics and misinformation. We believe an established outlet for future democratic dissent is necessary and if a new lockdown is entered in the autumn more and more people will have an outlet to oppose laws enacted under the guise of an emergency which is surely over at this point,” he claimed.
Dunmanway
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Cork City
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
