{"id":12849,"date":"2021-11-24T18:25:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T18:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=12849"},"modified":"2021-11-24T18:25:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T18:25:24","slug":"sunnyvale-eviction-on-prussia-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/11\/24\/sunnyvale-eviction-on-prussia-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunnyvale: Eviction on Prussia Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who Protects Landlords?<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

It was about one in the afternoon by the time I reached 23 Prussia street. Earlier in the day I had received a group text saying: \u2018Illegal eviction, Help Needed\u2019!<\/p>\n

By then a human wall had formed outside the front door to Sunnyvale and the mood was upbeat. I was told the police had tried to break up the crowd but failed miserably. Instead some of them had been absorbed into the crowd, swamped by it. Now clinging to the wall, under the heat of both sun and crowd, they were sweating hard.<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/i>Illegal eviction\u2019, cried a voice from the crowd.\u00a0 A cheer rang out.<\/p>\n

Another voice called out, this time singing: \u2018Who protects landlords\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u2018GARDS PROTECT LANDLORDS\u2019, the crowd sang back.<\/p>\n

Who protects landlords?<\/em><\/p>\n

GARDS PROTECT LANDLORDS!<\/em><\/p>\n

As the singing continued, I asked around to find out what had happened. Everybody was telling the same story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Morning Raid<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

When they came, they came spitting flame, vitriol, and all sorts of hatred. No eviction notice for this one; no \u2018please-fuck-off\u2019 letter through the door; no legal nicities this time. Just a dozen thugs or so, swinging two-by-fours and crowbars: aiming for window and skull.<\/p>\n

The sun had not yet risen when they arrived, cutting power in the dark, before stealthily scaling the back wall. Thieves in the night, and bailiffs come dawn – bollocks to the lot.<\/p>\n

Sent by Paschal Donohoe’s former ministerial driver and Fine Gael constituency treasurer Martin Sadlier<\/a><\/span> of the McGrath Group, these men were \u2018just doing their job\u2019. Yanking folk outta their homes and destroying whatever remained. It’s nothing new. The same job has been done for centuries.<\/p>\n

After finishing with the residents and cutting the power, they had gone to work on the roofs, walls and plumbing. Making certain there was nothing left of the homes that were there before \u2013 sure it\u2019s nice work if you can get it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Sudden Melee<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In front of me a Garda screams frantically, \u2018Get back, GET BACK\u2019!\u00a0 Meanwhile other Garda\u00ed are picking people up and throwing them aside. \u2018Get off me, a young man screams, GET THE FUCK OFF ME!\u2019<\/p>\n

At that point I felt confused, as until then things had been relatively calm. The Garda\u00ed had been allowed to get by the human barricade at the front door, which had by then moved in front of the back entrance.<\/p>\n

The Garda\u00ed had merely been observing until that point, standing around in groups of two and three. But I could see something was afoot, when they all clustered around the Garda who seemed to be in charge. After he gave the word, all eighteen of them turned back towards the crowd and started forcefully breaking it up.<\/p>\n

\u2018GET BACK\u2019, the Garda\u00ed screamed, shoving people out of their way, \u2018GET BACK\u2019!<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m just here to make sure nobody gets hurt\u2019, responded a man that had just been shoved off his feet by the incandescent Gard.<\/p>\n

\u2018Get, Back,\u2019 said the Gard, \u2018nobody\u2019s gonna get hurt\u2019, he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know about that,\u2019 said the man, brushing himself off, and gesturing to the surrounding melee.\u00a0 \u2018Yous have a reputation for reefing people out of it and breaking their arms. Know what I mean\u2019?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

State Protection<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

I was still trying to figure out why the Garda\u00ed only decided at that point to break the crowd up. Then I noticed the back gate had been opened, and realised they were clearing a path; which hit me like a punch I should\u2019ve seen coming. Instead I had walked straight into a door.<\/p>\n

The Garda\u00ed weren\u2019t there to keep the peace, but to seize a landlord\u2019s property. McGrath\u2019s security men must have been getting hungry. I figured they were allowing the Garda\u00ed take charge, knowing they had done their work for the day. Having smashed up the premises, they were now ready to leave.<\/p>\n

On cue, two white builders\u2019 vans rolled out, full up with them, state protection on either side, as Garda\u00ed pushed back the throng of protesters trying to stop the vans from leaving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hard questions to answer<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

Transcript:<\/p>\n

Yous assist evictions, know what I mean kicking people out of their homes, is that why you joined the Guards?\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hard question to answer but that\u2019s the truth isn’t it?<\/i><\/p>\n

Illegal evictions, with thugs, smashing people up and all. Like I just think it’s tragic,know what I mean? And I think you do too, and you keep the mask up and you keep your arms crossed and you tuck them into your vest. Trying to keep up the facade that you don\u2019t care\u2026 I just think it\u2019s tragic.\u00a0 And very easily you could have been in the same situation these people are in where they were without a home. Now they\u2019re gettin reefed out of it\u2026 easily could’ve been any of yous.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

It’s sad, you have jobs and you need your jobs to live.\u00a0 But\u2026 I don\u2019t think you thought this was what being in the Guards was gonna be. I mean you probably thought you were gonna be helping I\u2019m sure, but you\u2019re clearly not doing a service to the community. You\u2019re doing a service to landlords and people who have been making millions and billions out of this crisis that we\u2019ve been in for the last ten, fifteen, twenty years!\u00a0 All you’re doing is helping that.<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Seasoned campaigner Father McVerry slams the conservative politics that lie behind Ireland's housing crisis and identifies specific ways of addressing it.https:\/\/t.co\/7N1bz38X77<\/a>@danieleidiniph1<\/a> @beny987<\/a> @BowesChay<\/a> @paddycosgrave<\/a> @j_reilly33<\/a> @RoryHearne @EOBroin<\/a> @RBoydBarrett<\/a><\/p>\n

— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) November 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n