Ten Arrested In Dublin Fees Protest

On Thursday the 4th of December, Ógra Shinn Féin UCD Cathaoirleach Mick Reynolds and ten other members of the Free Education for Everyone movement were arrested and wrongly threatened with charges of criminal damage after a highly successful occupation of the office of Paul Gogarty, Green Party Spokesperson on Education, in Lucan.

The occupation was part of a National Day of Action against the proposed re introduction of third level fees, an increase in the registration fee and an increase on Graduate Tax. Similiar events took place in UCC in Cork where students barricaded themselves inside the president's office and in Galway where activists occupied the constituency office of Eamon O Cuiv, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. F.E.E activists gained access to the building at 1.30 and subsequently barricaded the door with boxes of Green Party leaflets. Media outlets and supporters were then notified in order to get support and publicity. RTE expressed an interest in doing an interview with one of the activists.

Gardaí began to negotiate with the activists to try and get them to leave but they were not prepared to go. After a short while, two of the activists decided to leave, and the group were later told that they were being held in custody by a member of the Gardaí who told them that one of them "would be feeling more claustrophobic in a smaller room than this one."

A number of attempts were made to break through the barricade but they failed, and the Gardaí attempted to negotiate with the group, either let the Gardaí in and be arrested or be taken out. The activists refused to go, and joined in the chanting with their friends outside the building. A number of further attempts were made to break through the door but this proved unsuccessful until the Gardaí began breaking down the door with police equipment. The activists announced they would stop the barricade and tried to return the office to the order it had been in before they arrived, but this proved futile as Gardaí rushed in and handcuffed the activists.

On their way out, Ógra Shinn Féin and F.E.E activists were cheering and supporting their friends. They had been told to leave the area and Gardaí attempted to intimidate them when they refused Gardaí, but refused to stop supporting their comrades inside. On the way to the Garda station in Lucan, the ten arrested people were subjected to taunts that they would be "going down for 14 years" and the protest was a "shame" and unsucessful. Activists were subsequently questioned and finger printed at stations in Lucan, Leixlip, and Clondalkin, with the Gardaí trying to break the solidarity between the activists to no avail. Activists were threatened with charges of criminal damage, slighlty ironic given the fact that the Gardaí had broken through the door themselves.

Cathaoirleach Ógra Shinn Féin UCD Mick Reynolds, who had already been artested and cautioned by the Gardaí in October for participating in a peaceful protest against the visit of Brian Lenihan to UCD, said "I believe that it was a highly successful event that hopefully will focus people on the serious problems and huge inequalities which will occur if third level fees or a graduate tax are introduced. The commitment of the people in the office today was admirable and I am proud to have stood with them as a member of Ógra Shinn Féin. Demonstrations like this and the others which occured across the country will send a message to this government and it's Green Party lapdogs that Fees are not going to be introduced if the students of Ireland can prevent it."