A Facebook page that had been calling on farmers and hauliers to turn out on Friday for nationwide “rolling protests and convoys” has said that the protest will not proceed due to the threat of penalty points and potential prosecution for those that were to take part.
The People Of Ireland Against Fuel Prices Protest page issued a statement on Wednesday saying that the nationwide rolling protests had been called off, but organisers continued to give their “full support” to a separate protest planned for Dublin.
Posts circulating on social media suggested the rolling protest would involve “Dublin-bound vehicle assemblies”.
The demonstrations would have coincided with informal meetings of EU heads of state with the Irish Government in Dublin.
The Facebook page stated that warnings from Gardaí that a zero-tolerance approach to road blockages or rolling protests were a factor in deciding not to push on with the planned protests.
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly had said this week that while Gardaí “always facilitate peaceful protests” any protest that moved “into the criminal area, of course we will deal with it swiftly”.
“In relation to fuel protests themselves, there will be absolutely no toleration for any blockage, anything in the few days and anything around motorways, critical infrastructure or any of the [European Political Community] locations,” the Garda Commissioner stated in advance of the proposed protests.
Penalty points risk
The People Of Ireland Against Fuel Prices Protest page said that the decision to not proceed with the planned action on Friday was not “taken lightly”.
“We have to be realistic about what this means for the ordinary working people who would be taking part.
“The possibility of penalty points, fines, prosecutions or other consequences is something we cannot ignore.”
The statement said organisers believed the protest should have taken place “immediately after the Budget”, when “the anger, frustration and determination were at their strongest”.
It added: “Unfortunately, too much time has now passed, and we believe that the momentum we had has been lost.”
Two figures central during April’s week-long tractor protests - James Geoghegan from Westmeath and Christopher Duffy from Meath - confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that they had not organised the protest planned for this Friday.
