Large crowds attend protests as Letterkenny comes to a standstill

Two protests brought Letterkenny to a standstill on Saturday with over 1,500 people descending on the Cathedral Town.

An anti-immigration march from the Station Roundabout, followed by a rally at the Market Square, came after a United Against Racism demonstration, also at the Market Square.

It was anything but an ordinary Saturday on Letterkenny’s main thoroughfare, which was absent of the usual hustle bustle of shoppers.  

There was a strange, tense feeling in the air. A Garda Air Support Unit helicopter flew overhead too.

On the ground, Gardai formed a human chain in front of steel barriers segregating the groups.

Officers from the Public Order Unit, donned in riot gear, were deployed, while a large amount of the uniformed gardai and undercover detectives were also on duty alongside a team of Garda medics. 

Some businesses closed and for those who remained opened trade was minimal.

“It’s ridiculous,” one business person said. “We didn’t know the street was closing at half 10. Nobody got told anything.”

The protests did not, however, disrupt the couple of dozen people who gathered in the Market Square for their usual Fatima First Saturday Rosary. One man’s version of Ave Maria was still hanging in the air as the Rally Against Racism was getting underway.

The United Against Racism demonstration saw people carry banners on behalf of groups including Intercultural Donegal, Donegal For Palestine and a Connolly Column XV Brigada Internacional flag.

The MC, Emma Kerr McVeigh, introduced the speakers, who included former Independent TD Thomas Pringle, Independent Senator Eileen Flynn, Hugh Friel of the Donegal Travellers Project and the Milford-based Independent Donegal County Councillor Declan Meehan.

Dr Dineo Moiloa, a doctor at Letterkenny University Hospital, also addressed the crowd.

“Not all of us here illegally, not all of us are freeloading off tax payers money,” she said. “A lot of us are here because we really want to make the country better. “Donegal Is in safe hands. We will not be intimidated by keyboard warriors on social media.”

Pringle criticised the government’s strategy in terms of issues like healthcare. 

“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are the cause of the problems, not the ordinary people,” he said.

“The problem does not lie in unfamiliar faces, but the same old political bullshit that we have accepted for 100 years. We can fight for better, not fight each other.”

The anti-immigration march - billed as Letterkenny Peaceful Assembly/Protest Against Illegal Immigration - which had in excess of 1,200 people in attendance, was led by Buncrana’s Kim McMenamin, who coaxed along the big crowd via a megaphone.

The march was diverted up Church Lane and onto Market Square. Although there were some verbal exchanges between the groups, no serious incidents were reported.

Many of those in the march carried tricolours and held anti-government or anti-immigration posters. 

“We own this country, it does not belong to the government,” McMenamin said in an address. “Our energy must be directed at the government, not the people.”

Robert Raduta, a Romanian national based in Buncrana, Glen Michael Smith from Derry and Donal McKinney were among those spoke at the anti-immigration demonstration. Chief organisers Fabio Cinquemani and Ciaran Tourish also spoke. Tourish said: “This is a protest directed at the people running this country. Somewhere along the line they have forgotten who they represent.”

Donegal solicitor Jacqui Sharkey, representing Lawyers for Justice Ireland, said the Irish government was in breach of the International Protection Act.

Ms Sharkey, a noted musician, sang Song For Ireland. 

Those who were present for the first event were dispersed by the time the second came to a close.