Protest held against royal visit

A protest at an official visit to Ireland by British royals William and Kate Windsor (‘Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’) was organised by republicans this week despite harassment from uniformed Garda and Special Branch police.

Members of Anti-Imperialist Action Ireland, the Dublin Anti-Internment Committee and independent activists displayed banners against the visit and against the use of internment by remand in the north of Ireland.

The royals were on a three-day visit to Ireland, taking in Dublin city, Howth Head, Prosperous in County Kildare and Galway. There was a minor scuffle with Gardai as the protest took place on the road as the pair were brought from Dublin north to Howth Head and back. A banner was also hung from the walls of the ruin of St. Mary’s Abbey, which overlooks Howth Harbour.

The organisers issued a statement “Why the Royal Parasites Are Not Welcome Here”, part of which said:

“William and his family maintain the feudal world view that they have a hereditary ‘divine right of kings’ and a so-called ‘god given’ right to rule over the People of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and England and believe they are superior to us in every way.

“No Monarch has any right in Ireland. Britain has no right to be in Ireland and never had. Our Republic was Proclaimed in 1916 and established in 1919. So long as Britain and the Free State continue to violently suppress the People’s Republic, no Representative of British Imperialism can ever be Welcome here.”

They accused Gardaí of attempting to “bully” the protesters away from the main road. They also said Garda Special Branch attempted to take the names and addresses of the protesters but were ignored.

In an internet post, the Anti-Internment group said normalisation of the British Royal Family in Ireland has been a key project for the Irish ruling class for some years.

“Although the State is nominally a republic and owes its nominal independence to years of struggles led by Irish Republicans and revolutionary socialists against British colonialism, its independence, like its republicanism, is a sham.

“The normalisation of the British Royals is part of the normalisation of that sham and smoothing over the uncomfortable reality that the British State, of which the Royals are an integral part, holds one-sixth of the territory of the Irish nation under armed occupation.”

Urgent Appeal