There's little more irritating than the way in which the far-right has appropriate the tricolour. Little, but not nothing. What's fractionally more irritating is to read the following:
A number of protestors who forced the closure of Cork's main library have been linked to far-right groups in Britain.
Cork City Library on Grand Parade made the decision to close to the public at 12.30pm on Saturday after a banner was erected across its doors during a heated demonstration.
The rally had been held as part of ongoing protests against LGBTQ+ material in Irish libraries, largely involving protesters arriving from outside of communities to support small numbers of locals.
Sources within the gardaí and those who monitor far-right activity say that some of the men at the protest are linked with British far-right groups and the demonstration was attended by at least one high-profile far-right activist in the UK.
No great surprise there, but given the contempt and hatred for this state and those who live here on this island from the British far-right over the years some irony there.
Meanwhile the Lord Mayor of Cork has called on the Garda to up their game in terms of policing these 'events'. Workers in a library had to lock themselves away at one point during one of these so-called protests. That's not nearly good enough.
And what of our government and it's seemingly laissez-faire approach to all these matters?
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, meanwhile, has backed what he calls An Garda Síochána's "balanced, subtle, and intelligence-led approach" to the policing of elements of the far right in Ireland.
Business as usual so.
Just as an example of how fringe these protests are:
On July 7, around 400 people marched through the city in solidarity with public library workers who have been faced with threats and intimidation while doing their job.
A small counter-protest by fewer than 20 people took place at the same time. The library closed to the public during this time following a risk assessment.
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