Nine charged with public order offences after water charges protest
Nine people have appeared in court in Dublin charged over public order offences connected to incidents which followed a city centre protest against water charges.
Several thousand people marched in the city centre yesterday, rallying outside the GPO on O'Connell Street. The protest was organised by the group ‘Dublin Says No' with the hashtag #Lockout2014 used on social media.
At around 4pm, 60 people staged a sit down protest on the street, blocking traffic.
Gardaí said these people were not connected to the officially-sanctioned water charges protest which had concluded without arrests.
"Despite being directed to leave the area by Gardaí under the Public Order Act, they continued to cause an obstruction," a garda statement said.
Eleven people (five women and six men) were arrested and taken to Store St. Garda Station.
Nine of those arrested appeared before a special sitting of Dublin District last night charged in connection with the incident.
Water charges are set to come into effect in just under two weeks time at the start of October.
