OPERATION Dochas, the Garda anti drugs initiative, seemed more concerned with marshalling anti drugs parades than with dealing with drug pushers, the Independent TD, Mr Tony Gregory, said last night. The demonstrators might have to march "not just on pushers but on police stations".
He was speaking at a meeting in Macushla Hall in Dublin's north inner city after which the 600 people there marched on the homes of alleged drug pushers in the area. At one flats complex, Mary's Mansions, off Amiens Street, a woman poured a pan of water from a second floor landing at one of the marshals who was shining a searchlight at her flat.
The marchers, who chanted "pushers, pushers, pushers out, out, out", finished at Josephs' mansions off Sean McDermott Street. One of the marshals said they bad "backed off" that complex to allow the gardai deal with the pushers, but drugs were creeping back into the area and so they were back too.
At the meeting, activists claimed that gardai were targeting them rather than drug pushers, and Ms Marsha Daly from Darndale said that her house was raided while she was at an antidrugs meeting in Sheriff Street. Her family was locked in a room while the house was "smashed up". Her daughters and son were searched and her grandchild's nappy was removed while gardai searched for drugs. "That's what I get for trying to look after the people in my area."
One demonstrator, Mr George Royle, from Summerhill, said the Garda Special Branch had raided the homes of a number of anti drugs activists in Ballybough, under the Misuse of Drugs Act. They certainly were not using the Special Branch against the drug barons and pushers, he said.
The Labour party TD, Mr Joe Costello, said that "targeting activists is something that cannot be tolerated". He urged the anti drugs associations to log all cases of intimidation and harassment which public representatives would take up with the gardai. Cllr Christy Burke of Sinn Fein said the uniformed gardai were "trying to break the anti drugs groups. They won't break us."