A garda has gone on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court charged with assault causing harm to a protester at the 2002 "Reclaim the Streets" march in Dame Street.
Garda Paul Tallon, Mountjoy Station, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mr Fergal Leddy causing him harm on May 6th, 2002.
The jury has been told by prosecuting counsel, Mr Thomas O'Connell, the witnesses will include two senior gardaí, who would be giving evidence that it was Garda Tallon captured on video evidence hitting Mr Leddy.
Mr Leddy (34), Richmond Hill, Rathmines, told the jury someone hit him on the crown of his head with a baton as he was trying to assist a fellow protester, whom "one garda seemed to be strangling".
Mr Leddy said gardaí became more aggressive as "the temperature of the situation rose". He said the protester to whose aid he went was shouting to be let go and the garda was not responding. He said he first appealed verbally to the garda who was holding the protester but when that did not have any effect he tried to come between the two of them.
"The next thing I was aware of was that I was on the ground and there were blows raining on me," Mr Leddy told Mr O'Connell.
He said he shouted that he was not resisting and within a minute or two he was back in the crowd, his head bleeding profusely.
Mr Leddy said his head, which had been cut at the back from the blow, was very sore and the bleeding did not stop until some time afterwards. He also suffered from headaches for a few weeks after the attack.
He said he would be "very hard put" to describe the garda whom he saw hitting him when he was lying on the ground, because he had his head in his hands and only caught glimpses of him.
Mr O'Connell told the jury in his opening address that the central issue upon which it would have to make a decision would be visual identification.
The trial is expected to continue for three to four days before Judge Yvonne Murphy.