Saturday’s anti-austerity march brought thousands out on the streets of Dublin City.
The march, organised by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, saw people from all corners of the country come to capital to demonstrate against austerity measures and taxes.
Gathering at Parnell Square, live traditional Irish music – well known songs like the ‘Rare Old Times’ and ‘Dirty Old Town’ – kept participants entertained while waiting patiently in the cold for the demonstration to take off.
When the time came, approximately 10,000 strong left from the Garden Remembrance, with chants and banners at the ready.
Despite the colds, spirits were high and all aspects of society marched side by side – the young, old, students, unemployed and employed alike.
[youtube.com=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akQJwaG6OLc]Accompanying the marchers was a wide range of lively music and dramatics – including marching bands, singers, costumed performers and creative floats.
Led by a deathly cloaked figure on a horse – demonstrators left from Parnell Square, making their way down O’ Connell Street and across College Green, before proceeding back across the O’ Connell Street bridge for a special assembly in front of the GPO.
So many turned out for the event that tail end of the march had barely left Parnell Square while those way ahead in the lead were almost at the end point.
This made for a parallel meeting of marchers travelling across both directions of the O’ Connell Street bridge. Here, the sound of uilleann pipes mixed with enthusiastic shouts and a lively sing along of Bob Marley’s ‘Stand Up For Your Rights’.
Meanwhile, unified chants of “You cut, we bleed” bellowed across the Liffey. These chants echoed the general theme and feeling of the march – many hurt and worried by budget cuts and taxes to come.
But whether marcher’s cries were heard all the way over in the offices of Kildare Street remains to be seen.
By Liam Keegan & Aidan Knowles