Occupy protestors dig in despite threats of clear-out

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

A tense stand-off between Occupy Galway protestors and City Council officials continued late into last night, as the country’s last surviving ‘occupation’ camp came under increasing pressure to fold up its tents.

But while camps in Dublin, Waterford and Cork had all been dismantled in recent days, defiant protestors at the Eyre Square protest site have told Galway City Council that they have no intention of leaving despite being issued with a formal request to vacate the site last week.

Despite that, sources suggested last night that the Eyre Square camp was now entering its final days – if not hours – particularly after last week’s Garda intervention to clear the Dame Street camp in Dublin. Yesterday marked the 150th day of the Galway ‘occupation’, and the protestors insisted they were not breaking any laws and had a right to stage their protest, in spite of the local authority’s demand that they disband.In a letter to Galway C

ity Council, they say they have had no “formal discussions” with the local authority regarding the site – and claim to have a right to protest under Article 40 of the Irish Constitution.

They said that they wrote to the Council themselves to seek a health and safety inspection of the site, which was carried out on February 14 last.

Last week, the Interim City Manager, Joe O’Neill, said that the protestors did not have the Council’s consent to set up the camp. He claimed there were serious health and safety concerns at the site, but the demonstrators have asked for an outline of these concerns.

“Since your officials called, on the 14th February, we have received no formal notice of inspection or requests for any necessary changes or improvements,” said the protestors’ letter to the Council.

“As you are also probably aware, two senior Gardaí have been quoted in local media recently as saying that we are not acting illegally. It has also been suggested that Eyre Square is, in fact, safer and cleaner since our protest began on October 15.”

But calls for the protestors to be removed from Eyre Square have intensified since Occupy Dame Street, a similar protest in Dublin, was shut down by Gardaí in the early hours of Thursday morning. The camps in Waterford and Cork have since closed down.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.