Waterford locals protest far-right march on The Mall
Pictured at Diversity not Division. Photo: Joe Evans
On Saturday afternoon, July 26, hundreds of people came out to counter-protest a far right march on The Mall.
Waterford Coalition Against Fascism (WCAF) organised a counter-demonstration in response to an anti-immigration march.
The anti-immigration march was organised by far-right group 'Waterford Says No'. Their march began at the Clock Tower and moved onto Bishop's Palace. They carried a banner flag that bore a striking resemblance to the flag of India.
In Cathedral Square, scores of people across different community groups, organisations and backgrounds came to counter-protest.
Waterford News and Star spoke to a local mother and daughter about the event. Sarah Jane Cleary said: "I wanted to come down and show some solidarity, show that Waterford is not a place for racism, and that we're a welcoming community, and that everybody is as important as the next, no matter where you're from."
She added: "I feel like Irish people have short memories. Not too long ago, we were in a fight or flight situation and we infiltrated the world."
Her daughter, Caoilfhionn spoke about the far-right men walking through the square, filming people. She said: "They post online open threats saying: 'When we find these people we'll do this and that' or people who dress 'funnily', people like my friends. So they do their open threats and there's no implications for them."
Throughout the afternoon, men from the Mall protest walked through the counter protest, holding cameras and filming people. One man was surrounded by Gardaí as he filmed people in Cathedral Square.
Speakers at the counter demonstration included Mayor of Waterford Seamus Ryan, Eoin Drummey of Unite, Michelle Byrne of WTCU (Waterford Council of Trade Unions), Amy O’Ríordan of Pride of the Déise and Senthil Ramaswamy of the Waterford Indian Community. The day before the event, Senthil had attended a silent protest in Dublin after the horrific attack on an Indian man in Tallaght.
He said to the crowd: "Let us stand strong against the far right ideologies that seek to undermine our values of compassion, equality and justice. Let us promote an island that is inclusive, welcoming and respectful for all.
"We are all part of a shared humanity, and our individual human rights are best protected and advanced in a spirit of solidarity with others as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article One: 'All human beings are born free and equal in the dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood.'"
Wexford band Peer Pleasure played a blistering set in the square, performing razor-sharp, irreverent punk rock for the rollicking crowd. There were great musical performances from the Igbo Community, The Spancill Jills and Bad Mothers Union.
On The Mall, speakers at the ‘Waterford’ Says No’ event orated on topics including immigration, vaccines, 'turbo cancers' and 'great replacement' theories. Young men in green t-shirts with 'Ireland belongs to the Irish' written on the back handed out leaflets for the far-right National Party.
Inspector Garda Shay Keevans noted that the majority of attendees at The Mall event came from outside of Waterford.
As the afternoon continued, a public order incident happened near the steps of Bishop's Palace. A man in his 30's was arrested by Gardaí.
