The chairman of a Dublin clinic providing abortion information claimed he was beaten and had his glasses broken by a Youth Defence supporter yesterday when the anti-abortion group occupied the clinic.
Mr Frank Crummy, chairman of the Marie Stopes Reproductive Choices clinic in Blessington Street, said he was assaulted by a woman supporter of Youth Defence. The group occupied the clinic in protest at the alleged failure of the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring a prosecution over an allegation of an abortion having been carried out at the organisation's previous premises.
Last April, a woman alleged to gardai that she had had an abortion in the Marie Stopes clinic in Merrion Square. Gardai visited the clinic, interviewed staff and took away documents. The clinic denied the allegation, saying it always operated within the law. A file was sent to the DPP but no action has yet ensued.
Mr Crummy said about 12 protesters occupied the counsellor's room at about 11 a.m. yesterday. "There were three women patients there. The people were terrified. The police were called. We tried to get the patients out to a police van with their heads covered. There were 50 or 60 people screaming outside. The women were crying. I was assaulted and my glasses were broken."
Mr Maurice Colgan, national organiser of Youth Defence, denied Mr Crummy was assaulted. Asked how he knew this, he said: "The police were there and no member of Youth Defence was arrested."