May Day use of unarmed gardai criticised

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has called into question plans to use unarmed gardaí on front-line riot duty on May Day, saying no other police force in the EU would deploy officers in this manner.

The association's general secretary, Mr P.J. Stone, has warned the plans may lead to very significant numbers of gardaí being injured.

Mr Stone added violent protesters responsible for anti-globalisation riots at a G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, in 2001, which left one protester dead and 1,000 police officers injured, are planning to come to Ireland for the forthcoming May Day celebrations. In this context, plans to use unarmed gardaí as the first line of defence may prove unwise, he said.

"After the EU summit in Gothenburg in 2001, 25 per cent of the officers deployed on the ground were injured. Do we need these types of statistics here? Only then would it reinforce the view that we should have taken a more definitive position in policing," Mr Stone said.

In the latest issue of the Garda Review, the official GRA magazine, he said it may be impossible to avoid serious civil disobedience in Dublin despite the significant preparations that have been made by the force. He said 1,000 of the 11,000 police officers on duty in Genoa in 2001 had been injured despite the fact they were all "protected by the very best of equipment and shields.

"We believe that most of those people who were involved in this protest [in Genoa] will soon be arriving in Ireland to create the same fear and aggression. It is now expected that An Garda Síochána, as an unarmed police force, will deal with such violent thuggery if it manifests itself on a massive scale.

"One never wants to presume that any situation will get out of hand. But so much preparation needs to be carried out that it boggles the mind as to how we can prevent it, especially if so many people arrive here fully intent on committing violence to highlight their cause on the streets of our capital."

Gardaí and the Army have for months been preparing for riots in Dublin on May 1st, when a special ceremony of EU heads of state will take place at Farmleigh to mark the entry into the EU of 10 accession states. It is expected that around 4,000 officers will be on duty in Dublin on the day. While 1,000 of these will be equipped with special riot gear, they will only be called on to assist front-line unarmed gardaí if the need arises. Gardaí will use water cannon to disperse crowds if rioting breaks out.