I'm not sure if this is making it to the attention of people outside of Ireland but there is currently a scandal going on over here about Gardai attitudes to women. This is in light of a tape that was recorded partially accidentally on the night of March 31st.
2 ShellToSea activist women had been involved in an action around the location of the current Shell compound in Aughoose. Gards, as has been nearly constant recently were getting really heavyhanded.
A camera had been recording the day's action, then turned off before the women involved were cornered by Gards. This lead to the camera being turned back on to capture the way a gard was acting. This in turn lead to it being left on when the women were arrested. It was placed in the back of a different Garda car where it remained turned on. While it was lying there it captured a number of gards talking about raping one of these women, as a threat or control tool.
The story is told here on Indymedia.ie
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/99445 complete with the sound recording.
with editorials on the Eirigi
http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest120411.html
and WSM sites
http://www.wsm.ie/c/context-corrib-gardai-rape-tape
It has also made its way into a lot of the mainstream media, both press and tv.
http://tinyurl.com/6acdhyn
5 Gards involved have apparently been removed from the local area and put on desk jobs in the county town. Apparently a desk job is the lowest Garda position short of suspension.
Just wanted to see what reaction this got from others here & the answer so far is none. Maybe if I'd used the somewhat sensationalist name that it's being referred to under as a title 'the rape-tape' which I was loath to do. I think the name might tend to trivialise the importance of this, what has been captured seems to be a longstanding viewpoint that the public was not aware of up until the tape was circulated. A lot of press has dismissed it as a joke in poor taste but I think its much more serious. The Garda involved were in the middle of a workshift despite the way they have been portrayed by some media.
I have been told that this story has made it to the UK news,so I did think there might be some familiarity with it. Maybe it's just too distanced for anybody to care?
Stevo
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