Irish police clear fuel protesters from central Dublin after days of gridlock
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Vehicles block Dublin's O'Connell Street on April 8, as part of a protest over the high cost of fuel that clogged up busy thoroughfares and motorways across Ireland.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DUBLIN – Irish police cleared tractors and trucks on April 12 that had been blocking traffic in central Dublin for five days in a protest against surging fuel prices as the government moves to limit the economic fallout from a wave of blockades.
Protesters, angered by a more than 20 per cent rise in diesel prices since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran, this week used tractors and trucks to block an oil refinery, two ports, a fuel terminal and a number of roads around the country.
The protests caused major transport disruption in Dublin and left about a third of the petrol stations in the country without fuel, creating what Finance Minister Simon Harris described as a “very dangerous moment” for the country.
The police on April 11 cleared the blockade from the country’s only oil refinery and on April 12 said they had started an operation to clear a blockade of Galway Port.
The government has refused to negotiate with the protesters, who included farmers, drivers and contractors. But it is holding talks with agricultural and transport industry groups about measures to alleviate fuel cost hikes.
A poll in the Sunday Independent newspaper showed that 56 per cent of voters surveyed supported the protesters, but that most supporters of the two governing parties opposed them. REUTERS
