Dublin dail protests - read OP before posting

I think the 'smash the far right' is more to do with the ideology of the far right than actual people.

I do agree with you on the 'punch a nazi', shouldn't be acceptable at all tbh.

Well, that's not what the law says in this country. Very few countries have completely unlimited freedom of speech.

You are of course entitled to argue for changes in the law, or even to stand for election on the basis of a free speech platform. I wish you good luck with that.

The politicians have brought this on themselves.

The irony for the aggressive protestors though is that they have played into the hands of the people they are protesting against ! You see the carry on of yesterday tarnishes the idea of protesting itself. Lots of aggrieved citizens will not attend protests if they know the same type of idiots are going to be in attendance.

This is the worst government the country has had in my time, economic growth and almost full employment yet,

housing crisis,

no reform of planning,

no planning for increased population,

infrastructure severely lacking,

HSE uselessness,

crime; random street violence,

opioid problem,

useless inefficient public transport,

increased racism,(which will lead to increased division in society)

The above are issues that should have us all out on the street

As for my comment about them brining it on themselves, political decision making has increasingly over the years been passed on to supranational organisations, unelected NGO's etc so the politicians have become in a sense no better than show ponies. Global corporations and especially banking have as much influence on our lives than the fools in DÉ.

On your first point, fair enough, I would be kicking off it if it a swastika had been on display. But I'd still say they are naive and foolish and nothing more, given that Lenin and USSR were no friends to anyone in the LGBT community.

Counter protest has been a thing for years in all democracies, you appear to be saying it shouldn't happen. I can't agree with that. If you think it's childish that's fair enough, but calling it out on a thread about people who bring gallows to protests, who threaten people and throw bottles of piss around is equivocating the two, which is completely ridiculous and that is why I think you need to cop on. The crowd yesterday were way, way, way out there in terms of their extremism.

On your final point, it's telling that you think trans rights activists are lunatics. They're not, the same way that lesbian, gay and bisexual activsts are not lunatics.

What went on yesterday is not part of a social feedback loop beyond coming out to protest after seeing another protest, I can see your point in that one small aspect.

But the actions on display yesterday are not - nobody protests like that outside a national parliament in this country, I have spent a fair bit of time there, seen a lot of protests there, but never anything like that. And they are nothing like trans rights protestors, or any other protestors - not anti-abortion protestors, not anti-austerity protestors of any description - not anything. Trying to equivocate their behaviour is ridiculous, hence the need to cop yourself on.

My thoughts exactly. a bit of pushing and shoving, bad language, bad manners yes.

And resulting in a few arrests. (Rightly so if they broke the law).

It’s not exactly the Jan 6th riots is it.

I am not sure there was a safer route? There are two exits as far as I know on foot, there were protestors at both of them.

You just can't get through a post without being rude can you?

You're essentially saying that you find one group of whack jobs agreeable and not the other so you're happy to make excuses for the first group therefore I need to cop myself on.

Any group that welcomes extremists into their ranks are lunatics, that should be self evident.

You essentially refuse to see any issues in groups you agree with, which says a lot about your ability to approach this topic honestly.

That dope seems to be keeping a low enough profile for a bit at least! Thankfully.

Probably partially to do with this...scumbag behaviour as you would expect

That's not a useful test for the exercising of free speech in a democratic society.

This 100%.

I have huge reservations around the ambiguity of this bill and it absolutely pains me to see these space cadets and the nonsense they're peddling in relation to it.

Gives an incredible amount of fodder to anyone who is pro getting it pushed through.

There's several ways in and out of the complex as a pedestrian. There is even a helipad on government buildings so MHR could have been evacuated Saigon style.

Had to step away for a few hours but I see the smugness is strong on the thread. Yes some protesters overstepped the mark, yes some shouted, yes some hurled insults, but it was a protest, sometimes they get ugly. Its not all peace and love out there.

But its a slippery slope when people who have different believes or grievances are given labels, insulted and called stupid. People need to listen for a change, maybe they have a point and the government/society/media is overlooking their issues and this was the accumulation of anger over months and years. Just because their gripe isn't on someone else's radar doesn’t mean there isn't a large section of society being **** on.

We did really well for many years at being accepting, breaking down barriers and making the country more diverse. But the last couple years it seems you're only allowed different views if it follows their views.

There's choppy waters ahead and people need to open their eyes to it.