A multimedia student who made a documentary of the Mayday 2002 "Reclaim the Streets" demonstration has told a jury he thought protesters believed they were being playful when they surrounded and rocked a Garda car.
Mr Conor Henfey, whose video footage is being used in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court trial of Garda Paul Daly and Garda Fergus Hogan, said he saw an unmarked Garda car drive into the middle of the crowd of protesters at Burgh Quay.
The DCU student said they sat down in front of the car, and some surrounded it, but there was nothing confrontational in their actions, Mr Henfey claimed.
Garda Daly and Garda Hogan, both attached to Pearse Street station, have pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Emmet Bunting on May 6th, 2002.
Sgt Mark Kelly, also of Pearse Street station, told Mr Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, that he drove Garda Hogan to hospital that evening for treatment of a hand injury.
He denied a suggestion by Mr O'Connell that earlier he had driven his patrol car into the crowd on Burgh Quay. He said he had driven around a few people but stopped the car when the crowd got too thick, and this was when his car was surrounded.
Sgt Kelly agreed with Mr Gerard Clarke SC, defending, that he believed the protesters were intending to overturn the car and he called for backup.
Mr Bunting, who has told the jury he was punched and kicked by gardaí in Trinity Street, denied a suggestion in cross-examination by Mr Clarke that he had not in fact been assaulted.
He agreed with counsel that he had not told his girlfriend of the assault after he met her in Exchequer Street, nor had he told another friend he met shortly after the incident.
Mr Bunting said he did not mention the beating to his girlfriend as he did not want to upset her and admitted that he was proceeding with a civil case for the injuries he sustained on the day.
When asked by Mr Clarke why he had not mentioned this first assault to any of his friends on the day if it was serious enough to pursue a civil case, he said he was not sure if he was claiming for damages on the first assault.
"I think my claim is only in relation to the injuries I sustained in the second assault on Parliament Street. I did not receive any injuries from the first assault."
Mr Bunting said he did see a garda coming towards him at the junction of Parliament Street and Dame Street, but he did not anticipate the blow.
The trial continues before Judge Yvonne Murphy and a jury.