THE GARDA has said any “reasonable” protests against the visit of Queen Elizabeth and US president Barack Obama will be accommodated but warned decisive action will be taken if demonstrations become disorderly.
At a media briefing in Dublin Castle yesterday, the head of the Garda press office, Supt John Gilligan, said the Garda had no plans to impose a zero-tolerance approach towards protests either during the Queen’s four-day visit next week or Mr Obama’s visit the following week.
“Any peaceful and reasonable protest is welcome up to a point,” he said. However, if protests became disorderly “gardaí will be prepared to deal with those issues as they arise”.
Gardaí will assess the turnout of a planned occupation of the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin’s north inner city from 3pm tomorrow by the republican group Éirígí before deciding whether a Garda intervention is needed to remove protesters.
The Queen is scheduled to lay a wreath at the garden on Tuesday afternoon. Éirígí plans to establish what it calls a “freedom camp” at the site and to man it continuously from tomorrow to disrupt Tuesday’s ceremony.
While the Queen is not due to arrive in the Republic until Tuesday, parking restrictions in Dublin city centre were due to begin this morning.
Supt Gilligan said the entire Garda force, which numbers more than 14,000 members, is to a lesser or greater extent involved in the security operation for the visits of the Queen and Mr Obama, which will be the largest such operation mounted in the State’s history.
At least 8,000 gardaí and 2,000 Defence Forces personnel are directly involved in the security operation.
Supt Gilligan said that alongside the security and traffic control plans for both visits, traditional policing will be maintained across the country.
Large teams of gardaí dressed in riot squad gear will be on standby in a fleet of vehicles to deal with any trouble. They will be parked just streets from the locations the Queen and Mr Obama visit.
While the most visible line of policing will comprise uniformed gardaí, armed detectives will also be discreetly deployed, as will specialist Garda teams, including the armed emergency response unit and regional support units.
One regional support unit has been posted at the Border to aid the Garda’s counterterrorist operation before and during the visits.
There is particular concern that dissident republicans from the Republic and Northern Ireland may detonate bombs in the North or attempt to kill PSNI officers during the Queen’s four-day visit as a protest against her presence on the island.
As part of the security operation in the Republic, Army snipers and back-up ground troops will be deployed to aid the Garda as the Queen and Mr Obama move between locations in Dublin, Kildare, Tipperary and Cork.
The Air Corps will enforce a no-fly zone above the sites of visits at key times. Surface-to-air missiles will be available as Army mobile ground patrols shadow both visits and assess any threat of air attack, however unlikely.
The Naval Service will prevent vessels sailing into waters over which the Queen’s and Mr Obama’s flights will fly low as they come into land on arrival in Ireland and just after take-off as they depart.
This is to reduce the possibility of a missile strike by terrorists in boats near the flight paths.