The Irish coalition government of Fine Gael and the Labour Party tried to turn the tables on its left-wing opponents in recent days, with efforts to portray them as 鈥渄angerous鈥 and 鈥渁nti-democratic鈥.
The exchanges came amid ongoing demonstrations over the jailing of anti-austerity protestors in Dublin. Five activists were ordered to be locked up by a court last month for failing to stay away from the installation of water metres.
Ireland
A series of coordinated early morning police raids in south-west Dublin have seen at least seventeen people 鈥 including several left-wing politicians 鈥 arrested for attending a peaceful rally against water charges last November, amid claims of 鈥減olitical policing鈥 and intimidation.
Shortly before 7am on Monday February 9, six police arrested Anti-Austerity Alliaaul Murphy TDnce (AAA) TD and Socialist Party member Paul Murphy at his home while he was still in his pyjamas, having breakfast with his children.
Leading trade unionists, Irish republican party Sinn Fein and a range of other left voices have backed a call for a new anti-austerity force in Irish politics capable of winning government.
In the wake of SYRIZA鈥檚 historic win in the Greek elections on January 25, Sinn Fein national chairperson, Declan Kearney, called for formal discussions to begin on building an Irish left coalition to cohere an anti-austerity government in the South.
Outrage and disbelief met a report in the December 30 Irish Times that British TV station Channel 4 was commissioning a comedy set to the backdrop of the Irish Famine. The Famine lasted from 1845 until 1852, with more than one million people dying from starvation and disease. Many of them were buried without coffins in mass pauper graves. Others were left where they dropped for fear of contagion, their mouths green from the grass they ate in desperation.
Up to 100,000 protesters shut down Dublin city on December 10 in the latest mass demonstration against the introduction of water charges.
Protesters from across the country braved media hysteria, riot police and police barricades, and the threat of a fierce storm, to descend on the centre of Dublin, placing Leinster House 鈥 home of the D谩il (Irish parliament) 鈥 and other government buildings in 鈥渓ock down鈥.
Faced with growing public revolt against the introduction of water charges and faltering support, the Irish government is in a deepening crisis.
The government 鈥 a coalition between the right-wing Fine Gael (FG) party and the Irish Labour Party 鈥 came to power in 2011 on the back of public outrage over austerity and social spending cuts.
More than 200,000 people demonstrated on streets up and down the country in protest against water charges. Even in the smaller towns across Ireland, people marched in their thousands, while cities crowd numbers were in the tens of thousands.
About 30,000 braved incessant rain in Cork city. The march took almost an hour-and-a-half to make its way through Cork city centre. Among the politicians protesting was Sinn Fein鈥檚 Jonathan O鈥橞rien, who said: 鈥淭he government needs to recognise the numbers on the streets. People are not going to pay, it is a tax too far.鈥
Huge crowds demonstrated against water charges on the streets of Dublin's city centre on October 12 as voters delivered a stunning message of 鈥渘o confidence鈥 to the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government in two by-elections.
Traffic in Dublin鈥檚 city centre came to a standstill due to the unprecedented scale of the anti-austerity march. About 100,000 people took part in the march, which took one hour and twenty minutes to pass the Spire in O鈥機onnell Street.
Across northern Syria and Iraq, Kurdish forces are locked in fierce battles with the murderous Islamic State (IS) armed force, writes Dave Holmes. Whether directly or indirectly, the whole Kurdish people is being drawn into this struggle.
Two representatives from Irish republican party Sinn Fein toured Australia from August to September 7, speaking to hundreds of people at public meetings about the campaign for Irish reunification.
Sinn Fein vice-president and member of the Dail (Irish parliament) Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Fein MP for Mid-Ulster in Ireland's north Francie Molloy, spoke in support of the campaign to end partition and unite the six counties still claimed by Britain with the 26 counties that make up the southern state in a democratic republic.
Representatives from Irish republican party Sinn Fein are touring Australia from August 30 to September 7, speaking at public meetings in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Ireland: Sports fans fly flags for Gaza
Dublin Gaelic Athletics Association fans unfurled a huge banner reading 鈥淔ree Gaza鈥 during the Leinster Senior Football Final on July 20, while Palestinian flags were flown by crowds at other sporting events across the country.
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