Hundreds of teenagers and members of Dublin’s skateboard community staged a protest outside one of Temple Bar’s best-known pubs following an alleged assault on Monday night.
Temple Bar webcam footage shows two teenagers, one 13 and 16, involved in an altercation with security guards outside Temple Bar pub. The incident is now being investigated by gardaí.
On Thursday evening several hundred protesters brought their skateboards, banged them off the cobblestones outside the pub and shouted repeatedly, “Come out and say sorry.”
There was a heavy Garda presence outside the pub and customers coming in and out were booed and jeered. The protest was peaceful, except for one individual who threw a battery at the pub’s door, but he was told to stop.
Organiser Evan Fogarty (24) said the teenagers involved had done nothing wrong. "All we want is somebody to come out and say sorry. It is not much to ask for," he said.
Eyewitness Aoife Kehoe (17), who was with the teenagers , said the incident occurred when the security guards started to tease the teenagers about being skateboarders.
One teenager who addressed the crowd, but did not want to give his name, said the two skateboarders are peaceable people. “They are two lovely gentlemen. Not one of them would hurt anyone. All they want to do is land that trick and move on. Come out and say sorry.”
Temple Bar pub management did not respond to a request for a comment from The Irish Times.
