Image credited Breakingnews.ie
In this article, our Reporter Gary Kelly Opines about the sense of purpose of yesterday’s march.
The Fountain Resource Group is in no way a political organisation, all opinions in the “Your Say” section are those of the authors themselves.
Solidarity at Yesterday’s Water Charges Protest
All it takes for Evil to Succeed is for Good Men to do nothing
Yesterday, I went to the Monster march in the city centre with fellow Fountain News Reporter, Dave Carr. What we experienced will stay with us for a long time. As we walked down Thomas Street, we could hear shouts in the distance giving updates on the march, but when we walked down Dame Street and passed Dublin Castle, I couldn’t help feeling that in some, smallest of small ways, that we were involved in something worthwhile.
I’ve never been to a march before so I was not sure what to expect. I thought there would mainly be middle aged men and women with nothing better to do on the day, but as I walked up Nassau Street I could not have been more wrong because what I saw was every type of Irish person from every class of society, standing up for something they really believed in, and preparing to fight for it. It reminded me of an old saying “All it takes for Evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing”.
On approaching Kildare Street I was surprised to see the Garda had the street blocked off. Now we can’t blame the Garda for this action. It’s not like they got up that morning, and using their discretion, proceeded to go block off a street. This is simply standard procedure instances of Mass Protest and yesterday, was surely a definitive example of a Mass Protest!
It wasn’t long after, that we headed towards Merrion Square, and when we got there, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many people on the streets. There were tens of thousands of people; and you know something, even with all those people there, not only was there no trouble but there was an amazing feeling of oneness, or something. It was like we were all in it together and I was never more proud to be Irish.
