Several Gardai including a Garda inspector may be facing criminal charges related to the deployment of pepper spray against protesters during a protest rally, being held at the junction of Molsworth street and Kildare street on 18 September 2013 on the day that the Dail returned after the summer recess.
A number of complaints were made to the Garda ombudsman and a Garda Superintendent was appointed by the former Garda commissioner to investigate the complaints against the several Gardai in question.
* www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/you-could-not-get-into-fortress-garda-says-former-gsoc-commissioner-1.1948532
*Text of my complaint: was as follows:
Date of Incident: 18/September/2013
Time of incident: afternoon:
Date complaint was submitted: 20/September/2013:
Location of Incident: Molsworth Street/Kildare Street. Dublin 2.
I was taking photos at the Garda security barriers at the junction of Molsworth Street/Kildare Street, of the protest that was taking place outside Leinster house.
Three men who I took to be members of Dail Eireann came up to the barrier on Molsworth Street, I exchanged casual conversation with one of them.
When they reached the corner of the barrier, the garda on duty, at that end of the barrier, refused to allow them through onto Kildare Street, from Molsworth street.
Then one of the protesters said to the garda, "they are suits, let them through" around this stage the Garda let these men through the barrier.
Then a group of protesters to my left and along the barrier, made a sudden push against the barrier.
At that point: I raised my camera with both hands as high as I could, above my head in order to get photos of the events that were unfolding along the barrier.
At this point, I saw a Garda emerge from around the gates of the Dail.
I saw him take something from his belt kit, he looked directly at me, making eye contact with me, he then sprayed my face with pepper spray.
At this point I was still holding my camera high over my head with both hands and for a minute or so I continued to take photos of the unfolding events at the barrier.
These photos included a photo of the Garda in question spraying belligerent protesters with pepper spray.
At this point I made my way with the help of members of the public into Buswells Hotel where I used water in the gents toilets to wash my eyes of the spray,
outside I received first aid from the protest group along with other people affected by the spray.
There was no reason at any stage why this Garda should have used pepper spray against me, he could see clearly that I was not a protester, but a photographer,
who posed no danger to anybody, but I was the first or one of the first that he sprayed, possibly to prevent me from taking pictures.
Nevertheless, I continued to operate my camera for long enough to take his photo.
I am quite sure that his action, of pepper spraying me was a deliberate assault on me. ENDS:
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It has now emerged that the Garda Inspector who allegedly pepper sprayed the protesters at the Garda security barrier at the junction of Molsworth street and Kildare street may be a brother of the notorious Tallaght/Dublin gangster Paul Rice.
Related Content:
www.garda.ie/Documents/User/morrtrib3%5B1%5D.pdf
The Initial Inquiry of Chief Superintendent Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096 ... Report by Detective Garda John Dooley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100
In addition to the allegations of assault (during the pepper spraying) at the security barrier on Kildare street, it is understood that the Garda ombudsman and the Garda commissioner are actively investigating far more serious charges against a senior Garda who was involved in the pepper spraying of a photographer during the disturbances that developed after a minority of the about 300 people present in Molsworth street surged against the barrier, resulting in the deployment of the pepper spray by the Gardai.
It is understood that a witness to the pepper spraying incident has made a formal complaint to invistigating gardai alleging an attempt "to shut him up" and a 'conspiracy (on the part of a senior Garda and others) to pervert justice' after the pepper spraying complaint that the witness in question had made to the Garda ombudsman, that complaint was referred by the former Garda commissioner to the Superintendent at Donneybrook, Dublin for investigation.
AN UNUSUAL DAY: HIGH NOON:
Protesters who were 'regulars' at protest meetings Outside Leinster House on Kildare street, noted unusual hostility on the part of the gardai on duty on that day
18/09/2013 they also noticed the presence of special garda units at levels not normally seen on low-key protests outside Dail Eireann.
However, on the 18th September 2013, what was intended as a peaceful protest against austerity as the Dail reopened for business. The demo at the gates of Leinster House ended in ugly confrontation. A minority of extremist republican gatecrashers grabbed the headlines, tainting the peaceful civil demonstrators and hijacking attention from their cause.
With another major protest planned for Budget Day on October 15 2013, activists wanted to reclaim the right to peacefully vent their discontent at the gates of their national parliament.
According to Finbar Markey, of the group Dundalk Says No, the protest outside the Dail on September 18 was organised through social media by activist networks around the country.
"They're groups of people in local areas who came together to form independent groups," he said. "Some of them called themselves anti-eviction groups. Others called themselves anti-austerity groups.
Some just didn't decide to have a name at all. They are the people who are voiceless, who are not voting in Ireland. They are people who don't want extremism, who don't want violence, but they feel voiceless at the moment."
But it also attracted established groups such as the National Women's Council, the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes and People Before Profit.
Protesters gathered at the gates of Leinster House from 5 am. As veteran marchers, they felt the atmosphere this time was different. (why?).
"Initially, when you got there, you saw the concrete barriers straight away. That was something different," said Eibhlin Ni Riain, also of (Dundalk Says No).
"From the outset, it was a different experience from being on protests before. They (Gardai) didn't interact with us, they didn't have the craic. It was different from anything I'd ever experienced.
When we stood there and tried to talk to them . . . they seemed to be stressed and aggressive – that's not a word I'd like to use, but it seemed to be their attitude."
By 10 am, tension was mounting. Chanting grew louder and some protesters took off on impromptu marches, and activists claim gardai began using pepper-spray to quell the crowd.
According to Mr Markey, four members of extremist group Republican Voice bearing flags turned up at lunchtime, joining the hundreds of protesters already there. "They were quickly asked to lower their flags by anti-eviction protesters, something which they refused to do," he said.
"From that point on, they were isolated by the crowds and had no organisational hand or part in carrying out the peaceful marches that eventually formed the sit-down protest on O'Connell Bridge.
"It is true that they were opportunistic in that they marched near to the front of the procession; however, their tiny numbers were overpowered by the hundreds of peaceful, non-party, non-republican protesters with their banners and posters.
Another Dundalk Says No activist, Mark Fitzsimons, said: "There was a small number of people there intent on causing trouble. You are talking about 20 people, and at this stage there were around 500 or 600 people outside the Dail."
A group of between 10 and 20 tried to rush the barrier. Gardai pushed forward. Mr Fitzsimons said he and two others were pepper-sprayed, one of whom suffered an epileptic fit.
Fearing trouble, the crowd was encouraged by facilitators to march on.
Protesters ended up on O'Connell Bridge, blocking the passage of rush-hour motorists and causing traffic chaos. Ms Ni Riain said: "There was frustration at not being able to stand outside the Dail.
You are being caged in. So, because it was peaceful, it was better to take people (peaceful protesters) out of that situation and to march."
The group acknowledge the rush-hour disruption was regrettable. Mr Markey said they would continue with their protest on October 15. "We will march, but we will never raise our hand, and if batons are raised to us, they can beat us, but we will still march forward, because that is what you do," he said.
It now appears, that republican dissident groups and Dublin's gangster elements had squared-up for a showdown at the gates of Leinster House as the dissident groups and the drug gangs are at loggerheads over drugs and money, gardai became aware of the situation at an early stage and deployed extra robust security measures.
The deployment of pepper-spray by gardai during the disturbance (the surge against the security barrier) raises questions regarding the availability of (FIRST AID) to persons who had been pepper-sprayed by the gardai.
THE GARDAI should have provided first-aid to persons that they had sprayed during the public order situation that developed in the mid-afternoon, but people that had been sprayed had to make their own way into the toilets of Buswells Hotel and more were directed to receive first-aid at a white van parked on Molsworth street apparently, provided by the protest groups, but there was no first-aid made available by the Gardai.
The state is now facing a raft of civil claims from people who were taking part in a protest rally and at (least one photographer) who was pepper-sprayed outside Leinster House Dublin. on that day.
There are fears of a major escalation in gangland tensions after the home of a notorious criminal was shot up just minutes after a sledgehammer attack on a house owned by a rival.
FACT FILE:
Our photo shows the sitting- room window of the family home of gangster Paul Rice (43) in Mayberry Park, Tallaght, just hours after yesterday's gun attack at 2.15am. Sources say Rice was in the house, having returned from the US earlier this week.
"This is a very significant development. Rice will not take kindly to his home being shot up and gardai are working on the theory that the shooting is linked to an earlier attack on a house in Dublin 12," a source said.
TARGET:
Half an hour earlier, thugs attacked the property in Dublin 12 and are suspected of using a sledgehammer to break in the door of the property, as well as throwing a stone through a window. The intended target of the attack – a man in his late 30s who is originally from Cabra – was not there at the time.
The trafficker has been the prime target of Operation Vulcan, which led to seven arrests and 30 searches in February 2012. "This seems like a tit-for-tat situation and that is a big worry," said a source.
Paul Rice and his crew, who include Gerard 'Hatchet' Kavanagh, previously told slain Real IRA gang boss Alan Ryan to "f*** off" when the RIRA came looking for protection money in 2011.
But he has also ran into "serious bother" with the new IRA alliance, which has been trying to extort cash from him and even put him on top of a death list earlier this year.
Rice had been enlisted by Ireland's richest international drugs syndicate to try to recoup hundreds of thousands of euros that is owed to them. Christy Kinahan's organisation had turned to Rice and he embarked on a campaign of intimidation.
However, there is speculation that Rice is no longer working with the Kinahan mob, which could change the entire dynamic of drugs gang activity in the capital, say sources.
ROBBERY:
Rice's most serious conviction was when he was jailed for 10 years in July 1995 after pleading guilty to the robbery of a bank in which shots were fired.
He escaped on horseback after the hold-up and a security guard was kicked and beaten with a lump hammer. Rice's most serious brush with gardai since his release from prison came when he was arrested by gardai investigating a kidnap and torture incident at a house in Lucan in October 2010. The victim was beaten and scalded with boiling water, but refused to complain to gardai.
The man had been abducted from his home near Magherafelt, Co Derry, and then brought to a house in Dublin.
He managed to escape from the property at Tandy's Lane, in Lucan, after his captors fell asleep.
The kidnap victim staggered to Lucan Garda Station half-naked and covered in blood and raised the alarm.
Three men were arrested. Rice was released after spending two days in garda custody and will not face charges in relation to the incident.
Well known criminal Paul Rice (41), from Tallaght, has decided to leave Ireland for Spain's Costa-Del-Crime after being approached last month by Real IRA men demanding cash. Rice was jailed for ten years in July 1995, after he pleaded guilty to the armed robbery of a bank in which shots were fired.
Rice escaped the scene on horseback after the incident in which shots were discharged and a security guard was kicked and beaten on the head with a lump hammer. ... .
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Mobster Paul Rice’s home was riddled with bullets just one hour after a rival drug baron’s home was attacked for the third time in 18 months. Shots were fired through the window of Rice’s home in Mayberry Park, Tallaght, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
A source said Rice was not home at the time of the attack having left the country earlier in the week.
The attack came just hours after masked men smashed up a well-known gangster’s home in Drimnagh with a sledge hammer. It was the third time the criminal’s house was attacked by Rice’s mob in the last 18 months.
In 2011, a number of shots were fired through the windows of his home in west Dublin and the house was also attacked last year.
The gangland figure - who is in his 30s - is in dispute with over a debt owed to Rice and his partner Gerard ‘Hatchet’ Kavanagh. It is believed he owes Kavanagh a six-figure cash sum for a drugs shipment from Spain.
A source has claimed that the under-pressure gangster has refused to pay up – claiming the cash was stolen by a low-level criminal who fled the country.
The Cabra-born criminal – who has no serious convictions – was once regarded as one of Ireland’s most successful up-and-coming drug barons.
However, his gang has effectively been dismantled by the gardai after one of his lieutenants ordered a pipe bomb attack on the home of a detective.
The shocking attack led to increased garda focus on the gang who specialise in importing cannabis and cocaine.
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A Dublin man who beat his best friend to death in a drunken brawl has been sentenced to seven years with the final two suspended.
Paul Rice (aged 26) attacked Keith Mills during an argument in 2008 after they had been drinking together for two days.
Mr Mills was punched and kicked in the head during the assault and was in a coma for 10 days before being pronounced dead due to brain injuries.
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Rice returned to Dublin for good two months ago and is already the main target of the garda National Drugs Unit and is also being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau. He made a name for himself as a feared gangland 'enforcer' and is regarded as being extremely violent and dangerous.
He owns several ice cream vans and was involved in the infamous 'ice cream wars' in the 1990s when he put several rivals out of business by threatening to shoot them.
Last year, while home on a short holiday, Rice was visited by two brothers from north Dublin who are prominent members of the Real IRA. They demanded protection money from Rice, who refused to pay because he was not based in Ireland. However, now that he is back here he is likely to be getting another visit from the terror group and may find it harder to refuse this time.
Gardai are fearful that Rice is stubborn enough to stand up to the Real IRA and are concerned that there could be violence if he refuses to pay them.
Rice has started to surround himself with INLA members and was recently stopped by gardai in the company of Paul 'Jaws' Kelly, who is believed to have been acting as his driver/bodyguard.
Kelly was jailed for four years in 2008 after he rammed a garda car. There were bomber jackets in Kelly's car with the words 'Republican Socialist Movement
Dundalk' on the back. Gardai also recovered a number of garda uniforms that had been stolen in
break-ins of the homes of gardai in Waterford and Lucan. A bullet-proof vest was also found.
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Rice had been enlisted by Ireland's richest international drugs syndicate to try to recoup hundreds of thousands of euros that is owed to them.
Christy Kinahan's organisation had turned to Rice and he embarked on a campaign of intimidation. However, there is speculation that Rice is no longer working with the Kinahan mob, which could change the entire dynamic of drugs gang activity in the capital, say sources.
ENDS:
There have been no injuries reported. A Hyundai Trajet car with an LS plate, used in the incident was later found set alight.
.JPG)
