Saturday, March 22, 2008

ROADWORKS RESUME: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

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'At the heart of the Irish experience, there is a need to filter the way we experience the world. We're in danger of drinking ourselves into a national stupor'
Life inside the protest camp

On Thursday, gardaí moved onto the site at Rath Lugh to allow construction workers to build a two-metre tall spiked steel fence to separate the construction site from the protest encampment.

At the same time, gardaí searched protesters' tents for weapons. None were found.

Lisa "Squeak" Feeney, a protester who had buried herself in a tunnel last weekend in an attempt to stop the motorway's progress, and consequently secured an agreement with the National Roads Authority, said she could not see why the body had reneged on its commitment to a moratorium on construction work "as I have kept my side of the bargain, I came out of the tunnel".

A few protesters tried to run on to the construction site on Thursday but were held back by workers and gardaí. Others stood in a circle as a robed druid conducted a memorial service for the esker.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times