Life Without Toast - Sibling Rivalry

I don't know if news of the riots in Dublin on Saturday travelled across the water, and it's already been blogged to death by several more 'journalistic' bloggers than I, but I might as well throw in my 2 cents worth and what I think of the whole thing.

I'm not even going to bother to comment on the rioters themselves, or the loyalist marchers, as neither side deserves any comment. I will, however, mention the ineptitude of the Garda Síochána in initially posting only 250 officers along the route of an extremely controversial parade in the first place. Given the size of protests in Northern Ireland during essentially pro-Britain loyalist parades, surely they must have forseen that this would not be the friendliest of occasions, especially in Dublin, where (since the civil war) an Orange/Loyalist parade/march is (I quote) 'unprecedented'?

I also would like, after the above 'diss' of the Gardaí, to praise them in their swift response when the parade and protest turned into a full-blown riot and street battle. From what I saw on the news, and in the papers, they really took care of the situation in a professional way. If only there had have been another few hundred of them, perhaps the thugs responsible for the violence would have been cordoned away from the general public a bit quicker and with less damage and injury. But hindsight is always 20-20 isn't it?

Anyhoo, the real shame is that this happened on a rugby weekend, so the city was full of Welsh (and other) revellers and supporters, over in Baile Átha Cliath for a bit of a hooley and a nice game of rugger (which we won 31-5, wahey!). What a pity they were subjected to seeing bigotry and hooliganism of this order on what would otherwise have been a quiet Saturday afternoon in my beautiful hometown.

Fuck the fucking bigoted bastards.