Force bans 'deliberate strike on person's head'
Wednesday May 08 2002
An investigation set up to examine the circumstances leading up to Monday night's violence will look at video film and study eyewitness reports that people were hit on the head by baton-wielding gardai.
There were no orders given by a senior officer for a baton charge but individual gardai have power under the Garda Code, which governs the weapon's use, to decide to draw the baton in certain circumstances.
Batons are issued normally to uniformed members of the force but plainclothes personnel may also carry them.
The 13 regulations in the Garda Code state that the baton may be used for self-protection if a garda is being violently attacked.
If a garda is likely to be overpowered he or she can also draw and use the baton, "taking care to avoid striking anyone deliberately on the head".
Batons may also be used to disperse disorderly crowds or to prevent the commission of a crime, according to the Garda Code.
Any member of the Garda who were not wearing their identification numbers on their shoulder is also in breach of the force's regulations.
Every member of the force on duty in the Dublin Metropolitan region is obliged to wear their shoulder identification numbers.
Despite this, a member of the force who was involved in restraining protesters during Monday's demonstration in the centre of Dublin was clearly shown in photographs in the Irish Independent and on footage aired by RTE news last night without his shoulder numbers.
The garda, wearing his blue shirt and tie, could be seen striking one of the protesters over the head with his baton.
Inspector Ray McHugh of the Garda press office said yesterday that the shoulder identification numbers were part and parcel of the Garda uniform and were a means of identifying members of the force.
"Any member who was not wearing identification numbers on their shoulder would appear to be in breach of Garda regulations," said Inspector McHugh.
Asked for a reaction to a press photograph showing a helmeted Garda with his hands around the throat of a protester, a spokesman at the Garda press office said that allowances had to be made for "the heat of the moment".
- Tom Brady and Ben Quinn
