Anti-Austerity Protest Limerick City Saturday December 1.

Brian Lighthouse

Hi All,

Were any of you at the protest yesterday.
I saw the sit down on O`Connell Street and was wondering how far back the traffic was held up for?
Any ideas?

Brian

concussion

A slow handclap for whoever organised that. It's hard enough for the city centre to compete with the retail parks on a wet cold winters day as it is. Bad enough that Bedford Row was effectively blocked but stopping traffic coming through the city is total idiocy and utterly counter-productive.

Beaver1

well done I say, about time people went out and protested,

the_syco

concussion wrote: »

Bad enough that Bedford Row was effectively blocked but stopping traffic coming through the city is total idiocy and utterly counter-productive.

What better war to combat austerity than to get shops shut down and people laid off. Oh, wait... :pac:

Sully777

concussion wrote: »

A slow handclap for whoever organised that. It's hard enough for the city centre to compete with the retail parks on a wet cold winters day as it is. Bad enough that Bedford Row was effectively blocked but stopping traffic coming through the city is total idiocy and utterly counter-productive.

Agree 100% - bunch of ass holes cost family members hard earned hours in work that were not that busy due to this.

Kess73

concussion wrote: »

A slow handclap for whoever organised that. It's hard enough for the city centre to compete with the retail parks on a wet cold winters day as it is. Bad enough that Bedford Row was effectively blocked but stopping traffic coming through the city is total idiocy and utterly counter-productive.

Exactly. A bunch of idiots who held a pointless protest that only will have impacted upon the city centre rather than those they wanted to send a message to.

Why were they not outside the Dail with their protest, or at the very least protesting outside City Hall on a weekday?


A small protest in the centre of Limerick city will hardly register a blip, if any at all, on the rader of the powers that be.


It is tough enough for retailers and service providers in a dying city centre like Limerick to get by, than to have a vanity protest giving shoppers just one more reason to go elsewhere to spend money.


Well done to the organisers of this protest, you just gave me and plenty of others a reason never to vote for the political parties you are affiliated with, and a good reason to look on you all as the self serving types you are.

Well done to the sheep that followed the organisers as well. You just did your bit to do a little bit of damage to the city centre whilst your "protest" was being noticed by none of those it was being aimed at.


Anti-austerity protest indeed. The only austerity of sorts related to the Saturday protest was what was inflicted on businesses in the city centre as a result of the vanity protest.

Beaver1

talk about people over reacting, they stopped traffic for 5 minutes in a dead town, big deal, Jesus wept

Kess73

Beaver1 wrote: »

talk about people over reacting, they stopped traffic for 5 minutes in a dead town, big deal, Jesus wept

With a protest that was nothing short of pointless. If those protesting were anything other than sheep, then they would have had the brains to realise that a tiny protest in a small city would get no real publicity and would certainly not impact in any way upon those they are protesting against.

As I said earlier, if they felt so strongly about their cause, one that I am sure they have all fully educated themselves on, then why were they not outside the Dail with their protest?

Blocking up an already struggling city centre, for any length of time, on a Saturday afternoon will cost businesses a lot of money. It might only be blocking traffic for five to ten minute with a mickey mouse protest, but that is plenty of time to send any motorists caught in it out of town to shop elsewhere.

December is a huge month for retailers and it is up to 40% of their yearly takings. If a small shop lost even a half day worth of business then it would be a lot for them.


If people want to protest then they should have the brains to protest where it might have some impact on those they are protesting against, and not just be nodding dogs for a bunch of wannabe socialists who seem to be anything but.

Beaver1

well for a march that is getting very little publicity, it has ye all chin wagging about it, serious do you really think a 5 min traffic stop is going to cause retailers any lost revenge, I doubt it very much, Ive spent longer time stopped in traffic at the newist traffic lights up by the fire station. serious some people will moan about anything, how do you know people were not just passing through town to go shopping in the outskirts and how many people decided not to shop because of the 5 min delay, you would want to be a right spoilt little sh@ite to say I'm going home some assh@les up there have me stopped in traffic for 5 min and I'm not spending money here now cause of that, I mean really, really.

concussion

My wife works in a shop on Bedford Row - protests like these DO affect sales. The entire width of Bedford Row was blocked and this is very intimidating for people, especially older shoppers, and it really hampers families with prams and toddlers. As for blocking traffic, 5 mins results in much longer congestion which pushes already slow moving traffic further out of town: this results in people deciding to go elsewhere.

Poxyshamrock

concussion wrote: »

My wife works in a shop on Bedford Row - protests like these DO affect sales. The entire width of Bedford Row was blocked and this is very intimidating for people, especially older shoppers, and it really hampers families with prams and toddlers. As for blocking traffic, 5 mins results in much longer congestion which pushes already slow moving traffic further out of town: this results in people deciding to go elsewhere.

Work on Bedford Row myself and sales just slumped for that hour.
It was a quiet enough November, we really coulda done without the blockade.

fl4pj4ck

Beaver1 wrote: »

talk about people over reacting, we stopped traffic for 5 minutes in a dead town, big deal, Jesus wept

FYP

Beaver1

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

FYP

no need to fmp, I wasn't at it but will be at the next one,

liammur

Beaver1 wrote: »

no need to fmp, I wasn't at it but will be at the next one,

I think people are over-reacting as well, but I must say I see no reason why people should be protesting. It will achieve nothing. It can't. The country needs austerity. Sad but true.

redron74

Ah come on now!
I can't believe that a protest that lasted 1-1.5 hours in total has some people so worked up. It's a good thing you don't live in Dublin, where most of the protests in this country are focussed. (O'Connell Street in Dublin was closed down the previous saturday for about four hours for a protest of 15,000+ people.)
If the traffic wasn't managed properly, then it's An Garda Siochana you should be blaming. They knew the march was happening and could have drawn up temporary diversions if they thought it necessary. I can't see how anyone would have been held up for all that long, unless you were driving from the Potato Market to The Mogul Emperor (in which case you might have been stuck behind the march the whole way).
Apart from the brief stop at the junction of O'Connell St, William St and Sarsfield St, it would have been pretty easy to police a reasonable flow of traffic around the protest on O'Connell St and Henry St, which are both quite wide.

Limerick City is the most appropriate place for people in the mid west region to hold a protest or do any other kind of campaigning or lobbying activity on any issue. Is it not the capital of the mid west? But last saturday's protest was even more appropriate for Limerick, as this is the consituency of the current Minister for Finance.

Although the protest wasn't all that big (the various estimates put it in the 600-800 bracket), when you consider that the vast majority of participants are actual activists in the Campaign Against the Property Tax and Austerity from Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary, it shows that the campaign has a strong core.
Protesting is not just about confronting your opponent(s) on an issue, but also about building up a campaigning movement.
Part of the idea of marching down O'Connell Street and finishing at Bedford Row was to show the people of Limerick and surrounding areas that the campaign is open to all to participate in. It was an opportunity to get the message out directly to a large audience (as opposed to being filtered through official media outlets). And from my own experience, that audience on saturday was largely receptive to the message of the protest.
So hopefully, out of the protest more people will be emboldened in their opposition to the government's austerity programme, will join the campaign formally and will be taking part themselves in the next major protest.

Confining a saturday protest to City Hall is very limiting as (1) City Hall is closed on saturdays and (2) passing traffic/footfall is negligible. So not only is one of the targets that you are protesting against not there to witness the protest, but you don't get to talk to people to try to convince them to join your protest. And protesting on a saturday is generally better than mid-week as you don't clash as much with people's other commitments (work, school, etc).

Protest is absolutely essential for society. If it wasn't for protesting (or at the very least, the genuine threat to protest) nothing would ever change.

On the particular issue at hand:
- If there had been no attempt to organise an active participatory campaign against the Household Charge that was introduced in last year's budget, then many many more people would have paid it. Having an organised campaign gave people who were opposed to it the confidence to challenge it head on.
- If the implementation of the Household Charge had been successful, then the Local Property Tax introduced in yesterday's budget would have been levied at a higher rate and would have been liable from 1 january.
- So, even though the Property Tax hasn't been defeated yet, the campaigning and protesting done over the last 18 months on the issue has brought some dividends to people. And there's still a long way to go in the Property Tax battle. Seeing as it won't be fully implemented until 2014, it'll be at the end of that year at the earliest that the government will be able to assess the level of success they'll have in its implementation. That gives plenty of time for people to make an impact to combat it.

On a more philosophical note, anyone who is reluctant to protest about things they feel angry about should give it a go. It's good for you!
- Marching through the city is good excercise. The fresh(ish) air is good too.
- Protests are good places for meeting new people and socialising without any pressure to indulge in mind-altering drugs of any kind. You will always have the obvious common interest of the topic of the protest, which would make an easy conversation starter.
- Gaining the courage to stand up for your beliefs is good for your self esteem. It's certainly better than bottling up your anger and becoming frustrated, bitter or cynical.

Brian Lighthouse

I found an article on the protest.
http://limerickvoice.com/index.php/700-protest-over-home-help-cuts/

concussion

If it rains before lunch time in Limerick the city centre suffers for the entire day as shoppers go to the Crescent SC and other retail parks for free parking and covered shopping. The city centre really is that tenuous from a retail perspective and anyone working in town will tell you that. It's absolutely pointless comparing protests with Dublin, the have a population of well over a million, 20 to 30 times more than Limerick! I stand by my assertion that this march was completely counter productive and that all it did was make things worse for shops in town.

Brian Lighthouse

It appears protesting does work.

http://www.limerickpost.ie/index.php/navigation-mainmenu-30/local-news/5350-limerick-home-helps-welcome-cut-reversal.html