Speaking with Hot Press this morning, Executive Director Liam Herrick laid out the problems with the Garda's handling of the removal of protesters from a vacate property 34 Frederick Street late on Tuesday evening.

"The first issue is, what was the purpose of this operation?" says Liam. "The Guards are disputing whether it was an eviction because they’re saying it wasn’t a bona fide occupation. I think what we need to be clear on here is that evictions are civil matters, and it is not for the Guards to be carrying out evictions on behalf of property owners. Now, the Guards are not saying that they’re not doing that, but it’s very understandable that that’s what it looks like from the outside."

The handling of this situation has not only led to widespread outrage and resulted in a sitdown protest on O'Connell Street, which took place yesterday evening (Wednesday, September 12) but it also raises larger questions about the nature of policing.