Speakers Unicorner rally against far-right 'whipping up hysteria'

Protesters with the group gathered at Irishtown Garda Station and Google HQ over the weekend for an anti-hate speech rally.

News . Written by Peter Dunne .

The Speakers Unicorner protest split screen with men giving Nazi salute outside Google

Large numbers turned out over the weekend for an anti-racism and anti-hate speech rally lead by the group Speakers Unicorner organised in the wake of Gemma O’Doherty’s ongoing demonstration outside Google HQ.

Speakers Unicorner stated the reason for the rally was “to stand up in numbers to the racists and fascists who have been ensconced there (Barrow Street) for weeks and to stop their spreading of hate on our streets”. 

The rally began at the Irishtown Garda Station to further urge the gardai to take action against those who use hate speech and encourage racism and violence, especially as the station covers Barrow Street, where O’Doherty’s demonstrations have taken place.

The rally then progressed to Google HQ to urge them to further remove hate figures from their platforms. Those involved in the peaceful group played music, and created a ‘party’ atmosphere. A small group of counter demonstrators from Anti-Corruption Ireland – a group which supports O’Doherty – also turned up at the location.

O’Doherty’s demonstration, now in its fifth week, has whipped up far-right rhetoric, as evidenced by photos of her supporters giving Nazi salutes outside the Google offices. O’Doherty complains she is being subjected to censorship as the Google subsidiary YouTube removed her from its platform for violating community rules.

One of the organisers of the rally, Buzz O’Neill, shared “The noise being made locally here on Barrow Street is being amplified in small towns and villages around the country. The far right is whipping up hysteria. We need to take action to stop this message from spreading across the country.”

Green Party councillor, Hazel Chu, who attended the rally shared how she has been targeted online by O’Doherty’s supporters: “People are now questioning whether I had the right to be elected even though I was born in Ireland. I am getting a lot of hate mail at the moment telling me to go back to China. I am now also getting silent calls. I had six nuisance calls on Friday.”

The original statement from Speakers Unicorner continued, “We… call on our government to take effective action and immediately address the wilful fuelling of racism and hate by groups like ACI, The National Party and IREXIT. Their rhetoric is already having a dangerous impact in communities around the country…

“The time to stop the far-right from gaining any more traction in our society and communities is NOW.”

In a show of people power, Workers Solidarity shared how the community getting together in solidarity can indeed have an affect on those who aim to spread hatred.

© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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