Having just woken up, I read with absolute horror this story. If you haven’t heard the facts so far, two women were arrested for public order offences at a protest in connection with the Corrib gas project. In the process of making the arrest, two male Gards seized a video camera. The camera was apparently still recording when they placed it in the front of the patrol car with themselves. During the ride from the protest back to the Belmullet police station, the two men were heard joking about deporting and raping one of the women. This link leads to the video itself. I am posting the link in this way so that those for whom it may be triggering do not have to be confronted by it.
With one side of my family being from Belmullet in west Mayo, the realisation that this may be representative of their police protection, has only made me feel worse about this story. After all these are the people who are supposed to protect to the public. They are not supposed to act in this way.
However, in order to be fair and as an independent investigation has only just started, with more details are sure to come out in the next few days, I will write about it in some detail either Thursday or Saturday. I would rather write something about this once the dust has settled somewhat, so I will be able to post a much more thoughtful and less knee-jerk reaction.
My Random Ruminations. 