Recent
info.
City-centre protest over racist attack
from The Irish Times, Friday, April 21, 2000
By Nuala Haughey
Up to 70 African asylum-seekers and refugees protested in Dublin city centre
yesterday over a racist attack on a Nigerian teenager who was left with head
injuries.
The spontaneous demonstration is the first public anti-racism protest in the
State by African asylum-seekers and refugees.
The injured asylum-seeker, Mr Paul Abayomi (16), stood in the midst of the
noisy and agitated crowd in O'Connell Street dressed in the blood-stained
coat he was wearing when attacked in Summerhill on Wednesday night.
Paul Abayomi and friends, marching with Anti-Fascist Action Ireland
His right eye was badly bruised and swollen with five stitches in an
arc-shaped scar. He held a placard which read: "I am a victim of racial
attack." The protesters said the attack was the culmination of incidents in
which pregnant women have been spat at, shots have been fired at
African-owned shops and vehicles damaged.
Several people complained about lack of Garda action in dealing with attacks.
The demonstration was addressed by speakers with a loud hailer and the crowd
sang the John Lennon song, Give Peace A Chance.
Mr Abayomi, who has been in Ireland for four months, said he was attacked
from behind while waiting at a shop. "I felt a bang on the head. They were
hitting me and shouting "Nigger". . . I just ran out and some people called
an ambulance."
Mr Mick Rafferty, a community activist in the north inner city area,
apologised to the crowd for the attack. He appealed for calm and called for
Government action to address the "clumsy policies" of placing asylum-seekers
in socially deprived areas without preparing host communities. Sgt. James
Cadden, from Fitzgibbon Street Garda station, said the attack was being
"fully investigated in the normal way".
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