A number of thousand individuals protested in opposition to vaccine passports and different Covid-19 public well being measures in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.
They marched from Parnell Sq. to D’Olier Road earlier than turning into Westmoreland Road and going again to the Common Put up Workplace, for a rally.
At one stage the highest of the march was on the GPO whereas the tail of the march was passing the Gate Theatre.
Speaker Rachel Ní Faoláin mentioned those that had not been vaccinated had been no larger a danger to society than those that had been double or triple jabbed with a Covid vaccine.
She mentioned she was in opposition to Covid certificates and the encouragement of discrimination in opposition to “a brand new minority”.
There have been giant cheers from the group as she complained concerning the remedy of those that didn’t have vaccine passports and mentioned “coercion” ought to by no means be acceptable in a functioning democratic society.
“Over the previous twenty months, our society has advanced right into a dictatorship, a totalitarian dystopia,” she mentioned, talking from a platform beside the Spire.
“It has grow to be illiberal… hate speech in direction of unvaccinated individuals has grow to be the norm and is now rising exponentially.”
The Irish media had been criticised by Ms Ní Faoláin for his or her protection of the general public well being measures.
Lots of these attending the march for “Reality and Civil Rights” carried placards essential of the reporting on the pandemic.
A girl who didn’t wish to give her identify mentioned she was on the march as a result of she was in favour of knowledgeable consent, and believed that for consent to be significant, it needed to be with out coercion.
In the intervening time, she believed, individuals had been being “firmly coerced” into getting the Covid vaccine.
This was occurring in some ways, on social media in relation to younger individuals, whereas with older individuals there was a “large public well being marketing campaign that reveals a specific narrative.
There are numerous people who find themselves of the view that there are different sides to that narrative.”
I’m right here as a result of I’ve younger youngsters and the current feedback from Nphet about masking youngsters, from 9 upwards, I discover that abhorrent
There had been point out within the media that, possibly, it’s time to have obligatory vaccination, “I really feel that may be a actually pivotal second.”
She had not attended any marches in opposition to Covid measures earlier than this, she mentioned, partly due to how they had been labelled, however she felt a line had been crossed, particularly with discuss of youngsters having to put on masks in class.
“It’s time for individuals to push again. Sufficient is sufficient.”
Robert Mahony, from Swords, mentioned he was there to protest on the segregation of society into the non-vaccinated and the vaccinated.
Individuals who have determined, for no matter purpose, to not get vaccinated, shouldn’t be discriminated in opposition to, he mentioned.
“I’m additionally right here as a result of I’ve younger youngsters and the current feedback from Nphet about masking youngsters, from 9 upwards, I discover that abhorrent.”
Aminah Dastan, from Dublin, mentioned she was there as a result of she felt there was a robust middle-ground that was not being represented by the mainstream media.
Each the left and the correct in energy weren’t representing the individuals who had been on the march, she mentioned. She trusted the individuals on the march greater than the “agendas and narratives which might be at play”.
These agendas included excluding individuals on the grounds of the Covid certificates. If individuals wished to say no to the vaccine, they’d the correct to take action, she mentioned.
“This isn’t an anti-vax marketing campaign. I don’t wish to see the phrase anti-vax beside my identify.”
Nonetheless, numerous individuals who had been on the march had been carrying placards that criticised the Covid vaccines.
The protest disrupted site visitors and Luas providers in within the metropolis centre for numerous hours.
The World Well being Organisation says that the seven Covid-19 vaccines it has determined meet the mandatory standards for security and efficacy “present a excessive diploma of safety in opposition to getting severely unwell and dying from the illness, though no vaccine is 100 per cent protecting.”
It says getting vaccinated is a safer option to develop immunity than getting sick with Covid-19, and that even those that are vaccinated ought to proceed to take precautions, akin to washing their arms and avoiding poorly ventilated areas, as a result of vaccinated individuals can nonetheless get unwell, and nonetheless go the virus on to different individuals.