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People at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dublin PA

'We can't just pause our emotions': Protest organiser not deterred by calls to stop event due to Covid-19

A series of demonstrations are expected to take place across the country on Saturday.

ONE OF THE organisers of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests this weekend has said that Ireland needs to react to racism while there is a global focus on the issue.     

A series of demonstrations are expected to take place in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Sligo and Leitrim on Saturday.

They are being organised by MASI, Migrants and Ethnic minorities for Reproductive Justice and Black Pride Ireland as a show of solidarity with Black Lives Matter protests in the US and to call for an end to Direct Provision.

However, there has been criticism of a similar protest in Dublin on Monday, when thousands of people took to the streets to voice their anger at the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the US.

Gardaí are investigating a potential breach of Covid-19 regulations relating to the protest, while Minister for Health Simon Harris and Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan have both suggested that such protests should not currently be taking place.

Lucky Kambole of the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) says protesters could not delay their response to racism.

“We’re doing this to express a message of peace and say ‘no’ to racism,” he told TheJournal.ie.

“This is an opportunity now because it’s happening now. Not next week, not next month; it’s happening now. We can’t just pause our emotions.”

Kambole stressed that organisers did not take the issue of Covid-19 lightly, and called on all those attending the protests to maintain social distancing and to wear a face mask.

The demonstrations will be the latest in a series of protests that have taken place around the world as people decry years of deaths of black people at police hands.

Two smaller protests took place outside the US embassy and the US ambassador’s residence in Dublin on Sunday.

Kambole explained that events in the US are being felt by people of colour around the world, and that the problems are not unique to that country.

“You don’t have to be in America to feel that pain. We feel that pain here,” he said.

“We are saying we cannot keep quiet and ignore it. People always say that there’s no racism in Ireland. But if you live in Ireland, you come across racism now and then.

“The thing is that here, racism is swept under the carpet so that people don’t see it.”

He added that those calling for the protests not to go ahead because of Covid-19 were not those who are affected by racism.

This Saturday’s demonstration in Dublin will take place at the US Embassy at 3pm.

A second Black Lives Matter protest by different organisers which was originally scheduled to take place on Monday 8 June was cancelled last night due to concerns about Covid-19.

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    Mute Craig Clancy
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:18 PM

    They haven’t paved the way with any incentives to be carbon neutral in 100 years time never mind 2050..no planning, no decent ideas just going with the flow and tax tax tax hoping it will work.

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    Mute Geoff Bateman
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:34 PM

    @Craig Clancy: correct

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    Mute Quoka
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:44 PM

    @Craig Clancy: Exactly. Policies like this are all fart and no poo. The threshold temperature rise for continued planetary warming has been passed irreversibly by many accounts. We didn’t heed the warnings decades ago. The damage has for the most part been done there’s just a lag in consequences. Moreover we literally have exactly zero idea how to stop it, let alone reverse it. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try but we literally have no idea how to maintain our present lifestyle and halt what’s coming.

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    Mute John Mulligan
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:26 PM

    @Craig Clancy: 6,000 forestry licenses held up by a bungling bureaucracy. So many obstacles now to planting trees that new planting is running at a tiny fraction of target.
    If we can’t do the simple things, and if a random crank can stop farmers planting trees, how will we manage the big stuff?

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    Mute Kipper O Keeffe
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:22 PM

    All this is another way to tax people

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    Mute The Bolt
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:14 PM

    That man would give an Anadin a headache

    293
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    Mute Derek Baldy Head Baldrick
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 5:17 PM

    @The Bolt: I’d imagine some of the electorate are clamoring for the next election when as far as they’re concerned it might be time to see who’s who. I’m sure the opposition will increase the pressure and that there will no doubt me some crass comments getting bandied about :)

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    Mute Dave Byrne
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:49 PM

    Could the Journal do a story on why sleepy needs so many advisors 8 I believe.

    177
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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:05 PM

    @Dave Byrne: because he hasn’t a scooby doo about what he is supposed to be doing?

    123
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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:34 PM

    It can be done! Everybody has just to stop everything—That includes eating, drinking and traveling.

    122
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    Mute ed w
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:14 PM

    landmark day for greens concreteing the countryside

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:16 PM

    @ed w: Landmark day for tax increases on behalf of the baby Blueshirts..The Greens.

    229
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 5:50 PM

    @ed w: All beef to be done away with and replaced with beef tasting veggie burgers. People’s diet to be modified so as to cut down on poo and farting.

    29
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    Mute inflation is coming... buy physical silver.
    Favourite inflation is coming... buy physical silver.
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:12 PM

    A great day for central bankers and corporations as the so called president of people gives the green light for further deficit spending for years to come. Welcome to the debt slave society all.

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    Mute Tim
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:16 PM

    Do you still have the big diesel car Eamon?

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    Mute Ciaran O 'Reilly
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:19 PM

    Someone needs to reinvent the airplane so.

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    Mute eoin carroll
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:36 PM

    What does this mean? Will Eamon Ryan be arrested if this target isn’t met?

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    Mute DB
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 5:51 PM

    Good auld Eamonn let’s tax the living day lights out of everyone to give him a hard on to be carbon neutral .

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    Mute Padraic McDonagh
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 5:57 PM

    It’s disappointing that Micky D will sign any auld shi’ite that comes his way. He was a public servant with principles, only to retire as a yes man.

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    Mute Eugene Canning
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:33 PM

    All the houses he’s going to build after his official retirement will be carbon neutral!

    32
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    Mute Damian Moylan
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 6:22 PM

    Why in this rush to push people to buy new cars is there no account taken at all in how much co2 it costs to actually make a car (of whatever variety) and it is significant. The actual total co2 would be the manufacturing co2 in tonnes divided by the car life span plus whatever comes out the back but this is not considered.

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    Mute Ilarion Cibu
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    Jul 24th 2021, 12:21 AM

    @Damian Moylan: what is also completely disregarded is battery utilisation which causes Humongous pollution in to the atmosphere because there is no technology to utilize Lithium-ion batteries that EV are driven , you know how they are being utilised? BURNT DOWN – thats how. And the battery life is 200-300k km. And when theres going to be enough EV’S its going to be a natural disaster when theres millions of batteries to be burnt.

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 7:27 PM

    Taxed into the grave ye will go ,meanwhile I wonder how all the six litre SUVs are doing in the oil rich counties

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    Mute john smith iv
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:42 PM

    Need to stop the cows farting.

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    Mute Aido
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:54 PM

    @john smith iv: seaweed

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    Mute brendan o connell
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 11:29 PM

    China puts out more emissions in an hour than Ireland puts out in a year, not to mention the US with their 8 mile per gallon cars , India, Pakistan, Russia south America Africa etc , tis laughable indeed, we don’t amount to a hill of beens but we will suffer as those mentioned have no possibility of conformity .

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    Mute trebloc01
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 6:04 PM

    The biggest producer are the Greens.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jul 24th 2021, 3:37 PM

    @trebloc01: They do produce a lot of hot air that is true.

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    Mute Geoff Bateman
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 3:34 PM

    and if we dont?

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    Mute Dónal Ó Keeffe
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    Jul 24th 2021, 10:39 AM

    Have all these proposals been proofed against those on the average industrial wage. Impractical proposals and taxes disguised as green initiatives will do nothing to effect climate change. Global agreements are the only solution. USA/China/india/russia account for 55% of global fossil fuel emissions alone. Unless these 4 have similar proposals then all the rest of the world can only achieve less than half of what is required. Green party needs to live in the realworld and align themselves with greenpeace etc. to make themselves credible, and force real change not just contracts for their supporters.

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    Mute Mairtin Thornton
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:52 PM

    Maybe cut down on the planning permission for Data centres!!!

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    Mute Mairtin Thornton
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 4:59 PM

    Maybe focus on reducing planning permission for data centres

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