A group of far-right protesters targeted the local library in Longford yesterday, August 15, as part of their efforts to have LGBTQ+ reading material removed from the shelves.

According to several X (formerly Twitter) users, the anti-LGBTQ+ protesters gained entry to the Longford library and remained there for over 40 minutes, harassing the staff and filming the episode as is their modus operandi.

According to one person’s account, local authorities did not arrive at the scene after the librarian’s first call, despite the fact that staff had been “liaising” with the force for weeks in the event that this should happen. A Garda response only arrived when the librarian called 999.

Once Gardaí arrived at the scene, officers reportedly had to physically push the protesters out of the building after repeatedly asking them to leave.

The far-right agitators proceeded to protest further once they were outside the Longford facility, holding a banner, chanting and shouting abuse to the library staff. After ordering protestors to leave the premises, Gardaí reportedly failed to take further action when they refused.

A group of LGBTQ+ supporters, including members of Sinn Féin and People Before Profit, also showed up at the library to oppose the far-right protesters.

Amazing how fascists gained entry into Longford library today & remained there for a lengthy period harassing staff/public despite fact that library staff said they’d been in touch w/ gardaí about possibility of this happening!

Took cops quite a while to respond too!
Madness!
1/ pic.twitter.com/woVz4AoG52

— Leah -mask up- Ni D (@LeahNiD) August 14, 2023

This latest episode at Longford library seems to be part of what the far-right agitators call their “Sovereign Voyage”, in which they travel across Ireland by boat and target a number of facilities on their way, opposing the availability of LGBTQ+ books.

There have been similar reports of these protesters attempting to enter libraries and bookstores across the country and have LGBTQ+ books removed since March this year. Workers at the targeted locations have been subjected to intimidation, harassment and verbal abuse, while protesters filmed them without their consent.

Last week, they turned up in Portumna, where they were met by Galway citizens gathered in support of their local library staff. Similarly, when they targeted the main library in Limerick on August 3, they were confronted by a large group of activists and ordinary citizens, who formed a line in front of the building’s entrance and successfully prevented the far-right protesters from getting inside.