Full Calendar

1981

Serious clashes between Republican demonstrators and Gardaí outside the British Embassy took place

On 18th of July 1981, a march in support of the Hunger Strikers campaign, ongoing since March of that year, ended with violent clashes outside the British Embassy after a Garda baton-charge, in which more than 200 people were hurt.

A document from Revolutionary Struggle after the event, ‘Organise Against State Repression’, states:

On the 18th. July thousands of people from all over the country mobilised in Dublin for a march on the British Embassy in support of the Hunger Strickers [sic]. Before reaching the Embassy however, the marchers were stopped at Merrion Rd. by a wall of cops in riot gear, seceral [sic] rows deep. This strategy of confrontation and intimidation, meant to frighten people off the streets and deny them expression, was resisted by many brave comrades who tried to fight their way through. The cops held rank for fifteen minutes and then charged. Their violence and brutality as they ran riot, beating everyone in their path was pyscotic [sic].