THE 3,000 people who marched through Dublin yesterday came from all parts of the city. The old blocks of flats in inner city communities were represented as were their modern equivalent - the desolate housing estates of the western suburbs.
People from these areas have found common cause against the drug dealers who are taking over their streets and trying to entice their children into a life of addiction.
Sinn Fein members were prominent among the march organisers, a development which allows the authorities to dismiss such events as part of a hidden political agenda. But even without Sinn Fein, these protests would have grown in numbers and frequency throughout the city.
Against a background of fears of vigilantism, the organisers were keen to stage a peaceful protest. They had wanted to march to Dublin Castle, where European justice ministers were meeting but were stopped by gardai. There was no doubt that the protesters could have overwhelmed the police cordon, but they proved more disciplined than the farmers at Killarney this week.
Yesterday's march was organised by COCAD the Coalition of Communities Against Drugs representing community groups in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Ballyfermot, and areas of the inner city. COCAD is a recent development. Previously, the major street protests have been arranged by ICON, the Inner City Organisations Network, which supported yesterday's march.
Both sides say they hope to come together to form a united organisation, but so far this has not happened.
In terms of their stated aims, the two groups appear to have more to bring them together than to keep them apart. They both want more police activity, and more treatment facilities for drug addicts. They want the Government to devote greater resources and attention to the drugs crisis.
One reason they are still separate may be the fear of some anti drug activists that Sinn Fein members will dominate COCAD, and that the new organisation will take too strong an anti police line.
Vigilantism has also become a problem for the anti drug campaigners. The problem is that some anti drug committees in the city have been giving dealers 24 hours to stop dealing or leave their homes, without explaining what happens next. It is obvious that such an ultimatum carries weight with a dealer, or suspected dealer, only because of the threat of vigilantism in the background.
However, since the drug addict, Josie Dwyer, was beaten to death in Dolphin's Barn earlier this year there have been few instances of vigilantism. The man who led that vigilante gang was among yesterday's marchers. But the gang has been relatively inactive recently. It is the use of the threat of vigilantism, rather than vigilante activity, which has increased.
Activists in both COCAD and ICON have also been unhappy because they believe that in recent days newspapers and radio programmes were fooled into listening sympathetically to dealers masquerading as unfortunate addicts who never deal drugs.
"The policy of the Coalition of Communities Against Drugs is not, never has been and never will be to target drug addicts," says Mr Andre Lyder of COCAD.
"On the contrary, community activists across the city who are connected with COCAD are working flat out to develop, in conjunction with the Eastern Health Board, drug treatment services for local addicts."