Around 400 took to the capital's thoroughfares for day-long Reclaim the Streets demonstration It was a Witnness festival without the mud or the main acts, an outdoor rave and a wandering stroll through Dublin's city centre, all rolled into one.
Yesterday's "Reclaim the Streets" day-long "street party" officially ended at the IFSC, the International Financial Services Centre, with just one arrest.
Last year's event was marred by violence and allegations of Garda brutality, after which seven gardaí were charged.
Gardaí last night detained a young man for alleged criminal damage after some graffiti was daubed on a monument at the IFSC, a circle of stone pillars, which had been used by the participants as a dance arena.
The attendance, which according to gardaí reached about 400 at its height, included cyclists, anti-war demonstrators, students, children and anti-globalisation campaigners. There was a constant but low-key Garda presence.
The organisers refused to inform gardaí of their planned route, in keeping with past policy, and the demonstrators first moved from the GPO to the junction of Moore Street and Parnell Street, where they stayed for much of the afternoon.
People handed out leaflets with the advice that "If you are arrested, please ask the Garda to inform the Reclaim the Streets legal support team" and it gave a mobile number.
The group included a "corporate cowgirl", a man dressed as a woman with a Mary Harney mask, and a number of bewigged and colourfully dressed anti US protesters.
Mr John Heneghan (28) from Mayo said: "People have to know that there are other people out there, call them hippies or whatever, but they have a right to have their own space too".
Later the good-humoured party moved en masse like a crowd following a pied piper down Henry Street, across O'Connell Street to North Earl and down to a petrol station on Amiens Street.
One demonstrator said the march had stopped there because the TOP oil company refuelled US military aircraft at Shannon.
One of its shutters was daubed with red paint and gardaí said they would be examining video footage to determine who had thrown the paint and when.
At the same time as the crowd moved on, a number of people were assigned to pick up dropped beer cans and other litter.
Later the crowd moved to the IFSC, before the ending of the official party.
A large number of the attendance headed for a pub for a benefit gig for the legal fund for demonstrators arrested at Shannon.
Ms Carmel Downey, a 20-year-old student from Kilkenny, said the party was to show there is not enough space for the public.
"There is nowhere for skateboarders to move. There are places down the country for people to gather and have a party outdoors like this, but not in Dublin."
It was a successful day from a "policing perspective," according to Supt Derek Byrne of Store Street, who said the demonstration was "very disorganised and chaotic".
He said the organisers refused to co-operate with the Garda.
Supt Byrne said the demonstration contained "a lot of decent people and a few drunken thugs".
At most only about 24 uniformed gardaí were present, but "we had an overt operation and a covert one", Supt Byrne said.
The first group of about 50 cyclists gathered at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square.
Some were part of the Critical Mass cyclists' group, whose aim was to focus on the needs of cyclists in a world of motorists.
Asked what such cycling demonstrators achieve, a member of the Dublin Cycling Campaign, Mr William Campbell, said "the withdrawal of the DTO manual for creating cycling lanes". He noted as a positive sign that "there are now 24 gardaí on bicycles".
