Around 300 protesters gathered outside City Hall in Dublin, to protest against the proposed new event management by-laws in Dublin City.
The protest organisers, The Freedom of Assembly Campaign, are a coalition of groups and individuals who are opposed to the new by-laws because 'of the serious implications for the right to assemble and protest.'
Ms Grace Lally, a spokesperson for the coalition, said: "The new proposed by-laws represent a draconian attack on basic civil liberties. They will effectively prohibit the right to march or protest in Dublin City centre for a whole swathe of groups and organisations.
Under the proposed by-laws groups or individuals will have to notify Dublin Corporation 31 days in advance; protests which involve numbers exceeding 300 will be required to get special permission from the corporation; a £2,000 deposit will be required as well as a £3 million public liability insurance.
Ms Lally said that many protests by their nature are called spontaneously or at short notice and to demand 31 days notice will mean that many protests will not happen. She added: "Demanding a £2,000 deposit and £3 million public liability insurance will also put the right to protest in Dublin out of the reach of a huge number of groups and causes."
She was also critical of the requirement that a protest should seek special permission if the numbers exceed 300.
"This will give an institution of the State the right to veto protests they do not like. Such restrictions on the right to protest are something you associate with the worst totalitarian regimes not with a democratic state," she said.