Swastika cut into poster in sinister Far Right threat to socialist candidate – Irish Local and European Elections campaign, 2024 – Safety Measures Urgently Needed
Far-Right agitators in Ireland are escalating their attacks.
Ruth Coppinger, a Solidarity- People Before Profit candidate in Castleknock, and a former Dublin West TD, is the latest target.
Ruth’s press statement below explains the context well, and she makes an excellent proposal :
I am going to make contact with other parties / candidates – in particular those in opposition and on the left who are targeted more by the far right – to suggest that a central log of incidents and threats should be kept in order to take measures for the safety of all those ordinary activists who come out and campaign, as well as community safety in general.
“The far right can’t be allowed to create an atmosphere designed to frighten and to limit the campaigns of the left
Swastika cut into poster in sinister Far Right threat to socialist candidate
A “menacing atmosphere” is being generated by the far right according to a former TD and local election candidate who has had a swastika cut into her image on an election poster. Ruth Coppinger, socialist candidate with People Before Profit-Solidarity in Castleknock ward, Fingal, says supporters found the poster and that “it shows the danger of the far right in these elections, the threat they are to safety and how they would take away democratic rights.”
“For somebody to go to the trouble of cutting a swastika Nazi symbol into my face on the poster goes beyond vandalism – it is to send a sinister message, particularly to me as a woman, a socialist and a feminist who has challenged racism and the ideas of the far right who would take away rights won by women and LGBTQ+ people. My party is highlighting the wealth and lands the council has to resolve the housing crisis — but these racists instead want to stoke up fear and hate against minorities.
“This also follows a number of violent or threatening incidents in Dublin 15, most notably the physical assault in Hartstown on a councillor and her husband while postering, but now I’ve heard of other candidates reporting further intimidation of activists and defacing of posters.
“I am going to make contact with other parties / candidates – in particular those in opposition and on the left who are targeted more by the far right – to suggest that a central log of incidents and threats should be kept in order to take measures for the safety of all those ordinary activists who come out and campaign, as well as community safety in general.
“The far right can’t be allowed to create an atmosphere designed to frighten and to limit the campaigns of the left.”
See here for a link to an image of the poster https://photos.app.goo.gl/oNq4uw934aSfNitY6
Paul Murphy TD (Dublin South-West) responds :
A similar racist attack – on independent Dublin councillor Tania Doyle – was reported by Dublin Live on May 11
I feared for our lives’ – Dublin councillor viciously attacked by anti-immigration thug
Cllr Tania Doyle pleaded with the attacker to stop striking her husband during the horrific attack that has shocked the community
An extract from the report :
Councillor Doyle, who represents Ongar, told Dublin Live: “I sensed that something wasn’t right. I tried keeping things calm because I could see he was very agitated.”
She said that the other man just stood there and looked on. She said: “He demanded my views on immigration. I responded back to him that I believe in lawful, measured immigration with the background infrastructure to cope.
“He wasn’t happy enough with that and he just kept going. The language he was coming out with. He accused me of being part of the establishment and it just went on and on.”
As the situation escalated, the man took out his phone and began to record Cllr Doyle while screaming in her face. She added: “My husband, Derek, who was behind me walked in front of me to protect me. I told the man to stop. I didn’t want to be videoed. He said that he would destroy me.”
When her husband told him to stop recording her, Cllr Doyle said the man, who was in his early 40s, “went ballistic” and began to attack the two. She said: “He threw a punch at my husband. I shielded my husband. Where I got the strength from I don’t know.
Tania Doyle calls on the state to file charges :
Both Cllr Doyle and her husband sustained painful injuries during the incident. Her husband’s glasses were smashed into his face during the attack. She said: “His face was full of blood. He has a gash across his head and nose. He is black and blue.
“My wrist and my hands are swollen. Every bone in my body is sore. I omitted twice after I got home that night.”
The incident has left the whole family traumatised. She said: “We lost two days where we couldn’t cope. I want him caught and charged because I don’t want this happening to anyone else.”
Link : “I feared for our lives” – Dublin Councillor Tania Doyle attacked by racist thug
Correspondents are invited to write reports of similar incidents, and help to co-ordinate resistance.
See also this post on the Cedar Lounge Revolution Site : Another attack on election candidates – Cedar Lounge Revolution
John Meehan May 14 2024
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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