February 25, 2006

[Culture] Today's march in Dublin

Ok, I only went into town early afternoon to go to Wagamamas with my bro for lunch. Thien pick up a few things here and there on the southside. Little did I know something was amiss... cue sirens, screeching tyres towards Nassau Street direction. Heading from Grafton St. towards 90 stop on Aston Quay, I saw grufties and lots of skangers wearing Irish scarved covering up half of their faces heading the same direction as the Gardaí riot vans. Ahead past the spire, my brother points to smoke. Hmmm... the bridge has been closed off, we wanted to go home (Abbey St. was out of the question). Waiting at the 90 was a bit fruitless, so my brother prodded me to walk to Jervis to get the Luas. Heh, so we got there, Luas only runs between Smithfield and Tallaght only. Anyhoo, we manage to make our way home. My brother mentioned the Loyalist march, but I check the headlines and there it was...

The Garda Riot Squad are still in attendance and a total of 37 people have been arrested. They are being held at Store Street and Pearse Street garda stations.

And what was scarier still...

Skirmishes were reported on O'Connell Bridge and Aston Quay and there was a stand-off for a time on Fleet Street.

OMG! We got out of town just in time. My brother pointed out that it is also featured in the BBC news as well. Not sure if this was a coincidence, there were more sirens than usual last night, I thought my headache emphasised it. And geesh, I can even hear some bangs nearby, and I'm living around Parkgate St.

I'm just glad I am home now.

Posted by whykay at February 25, 2006 04:40 PM