Irish protesters hurl bottles, eggs, shoes at Tony Blair during book signing

By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, September 4, 2010 11:49 EST
Print
 
Topics:
 

More than 200 noisy demonstrators, many chanting slogans criticising Blair over the 2003 Iraq war, had gathered for the event and witnesses said plastic bottles and flip-flops were thrown at him as his motorcade arrived.

None of the objects — also reported to include eggs and shoes — landed near the former premier as protestors surged towards a security barrier separating them from him before being repelled by police.

One woman said she tried to make a citizen’s arrest on Blair once he was inside the bookshop where the event was taking place.

“After I went through airport-like security to get to Mr Blair, I told him I was there to make a citizen’s arrest on him for war crimes committed in Iraq,” said Kate O’Sullivan, an activist from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

“Mr Blair looked down and I was immediately grabbed by five security men and dragged away.”

A police spokesman would not give a precise figure for the number of people who were arrested at the protest but said it was in single figures.

Blair was carrying out the signing to publicise “A Journey”, his account of his decade in Downing Street from 1997 to 2007, which was released earlier this week.

In the book, he said he “can’t regret” the decision to go to war in Iraq alongside thenUS president George W. Bush but acknowledged that he did not foresee the “nightmare” which was unleashed in the aftermath.

He will hold another book signing in London Wednesday which anti-war activists are also pledging to target.

In Dublin, the demonstrators waved placards with slogans such as “Blair lied, millions died” and “Lock him up for genocide” and chanted amid a heavy police presence.

Part of the city’s main thoroughfare, O’Connell Street, where the bookshop is located, was sealed off and access inside was being tightly controlled.

Several hundred people braved pouring rain to queue at a back entrance to the store in the hope of getting their book signed by Blair.

Killian Kiely, a 21-year-old from south Dublin, was among those who got to meet him.

“I wanted to see him, he is one of the most important leaders of his generation though there is a lot I would disagree with about his policies,” he said. “I just wanted to see him in the flesh.”

But many hoping to meet Blair were left disappointed when he left after about an hour-and-a-half of signing.

In his first live television interview promoting the book on Friday, Blair brushed off the opposition he still faces from anti-war campaigners, seven years after the Iraq invasion.

“One of the first things that you learn in politics is that those who shout most don’t deserve necessarily to be listened to most,” he told Irish state television RTE.

“Everyone should be listened to equally, irrespective of the volume of noise.”

In a fresh sign of continuing opposition, over 2,500 people have joined a group on social networking website Facebook calling for shoppers to move Blair’s book to the crime section in bookshops.

Blair, who reportedly received a 4.6 million pound (5.6 million euro, 7.2 million dollar) advance for the book, will donate all proceeds to the Royal British Legion, a charity helping war veterans.

Despite continuing controversy over the Iraq conflict, Blair is particularly hailed by many in Ireland for his key role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

This video of raw footage from the Irish protest of Tony Blair’s first book signing was published to YouTube by Russia Today on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010.

Agence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse
AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.
Share this story >>
Print
 
 
 
By commenting, you agree to our terms of service
and to abide by our commenting policy.
 
  • FartsAreFree

    I’ve never known of a “citizen’s arrest to be taken seriously by the pigs. Why should this be any different. A police state is occurring all over the globe and I’ll be damned if I see a way to stop the flow. The only hope is a rise in consciousness and that’s like expecting a raise in pay to a living wage for workers.

  • FartsAreFree

    I’ve never known of a “citizen’s arrest to be taken seriously by the pigs. Why should this be any different. A police state is occurring all over the globe and I’ll be damned if I see a way to stop the flow. The only hope is a rise in consciousness and that’s like expecting a raise in pay to a living wage for workers.

  • FartsAreFree

    I’ve never known of a “citizen’s arrest to be taken seriously by the pigs. Why should this be any different. A police state is occurring all over the globe and I’ll be damned if I see a way to stop the flow. The only hope is a rise in consciousness and that’s like expecting a raise in pay to a living wage for workers.

  • FartsAreFree

    I’ve never known of a “citizen’s arrest to be taken seriously by the pigs. Why should this be any different. A police state is occurring all over the globe and I’ll be damned if I see a way to stop the flow. The only hope is a rise in consciousness and that’s like expecting a raise in pay to a living wage for workers.

  • Anonymous

    G. W. Bush and Cheney should get the same treatment every time they go out in public. Of course if there were protests of this sort here in the U.S., it would never be reported by the “liberal” media.

  • Investigate-NWO-globalists

    Blair, Bush, & Cheney are typical of the sociopaths the NWO/globalists utilize as front-men!

  • Anonymous

    If I could get close enough to that bastard I’d gladly do the time for “assault” (i.e., spitting in his lying, multiple faces)!

  • Atilla

    Americans are such wimps that we allow war criminals, traitors, and foriegn agent within our government, not only to exist, but to prosper and become powerful enough to use our militaty to do their evil bidding. What the hell is wrong with Americans? No balls at all.
    Hell Bush’s papist SCOTUS apointees just made it legal for anyone in the world to buy our Washington DC whores (politicians). Unbelievable! I’m sure George Washington turned over in his grave so America can kiss his ass.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/5ADH43ZCS3NITAIJKNHHOXH5SY C H

    We are sheep. And that is one reason Bush,Cheney,Rumsfeld, Yoo,Bybee, etc are still walking around. And that fact is what has allowed Bush and Cheney to spend time bragging about what they did. And the fact that they would do it again.

    What happened to Blair is another reason Bush and Cheney won’t vacation or visit out of the country. There are a few country’s that want them arrested as war criminals. What got reported elsewhere including Britain was how often the President’s visit to other country’s ended in riots. The newspapers here let that out when ever Bush went overseas. And twice there were deaths in those riots.

    On one visit to India, the demonstrations were so bad, they had to move Bush twice so he could make a speech. He ended up making that speech in an abandoned old fort left when England ruled India. All newspapers overseas always carried these stories, but not here. You had to find them online in other places. Another value of having a free press, yes?

    These bastards will never be arrested, at least not here. Part of what a free press is supposed to do is to keep us informed. Sure. If the reporters are not too lazy. And if the government isn’t hiding too much. And if people know enough to demand it. And if the whole business of news has not become too partisan. And if the rule of journalism now is not to dumb down news. And if we are lucky enough to have a press not in love with celebrity gossip and mindless drivel. And if the press were not corporate owned. And if it were not already too late to resurrect a free and objective press. But the thing speaks for itself.

  • http://www.anylyricssearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/iktara-song-lyrics-week-up-sid.html iktara lyrics

    He was sold to us as Britain’s first ‘rock and roll’ PM, but he turned out to be just another Christian terrorist.

  • Anonymous

    It appears the Irish have some true patriots among their citizenry. Anthony Blair is by any standard a war criminal and should be in the dock like Slobodan Milosevic. What is truly amazing is that Kissinger, Bush Sr. and Jr., Obama and the rest can all sleep at night knowing they are responsible for thousands of murders. They must think that they are doing the Lord’s work. They had better pray there is nothing after death but oblivion and that there is no God.

  • guest51

    Oasis got used on that one. They should have stuck a middle finger up Blair’s face.

    The band members should have spent the rest of their lives wearing a paper bag over their heads.

  • guest51

    Oasis got used on that one. They should have stuck a middle finger up Blair’s face.

    The band members should have spent the rest of their lives wearing a paper bag over their heads.

  • guest51

    Oasis got used on that one. They should have stuck a middle finger up Blair’s face.

    The band members should have spent the rest of their lives wearing a paper bag over their heads.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/XZOZFUWR3YKJ25ZUAQQZWO7R6I SR

    democracy is a hoax, and the criminals own the investigative apparatus that would be needed to prosecute them.

    audit the federal reserve, and atleast let all these criminals be publicly named.

  • Anonymous

    So should Obama.

  • Anonymous

    So should Obama.

  • Neoconbuster

    The very next day he (could be Bush) takes a photo oportunity in Haiti or Pakistan so the “free Press” shows they are good hearted people when in reality both goverments cooked Intellinge for justifiying their wars to the point of even killing who contradicted to their lies.

    Smiling faces sometimes….

    I wonder if the Internet will be capable of Defeating the Coup which took place on 9-11…Millions of people has died ever since.

  • Johnniefavorite

    Indeed.
    Sometimes it seems like there are just too many people who just enjoy the hell out of being stupid. I mean it seems like they really, really enjoy being dumb. So much so that now, dumb is smart. Oh yeah, and they love having others make their decsions for them too.

  • RICHARD RALPH ROEHL

    The Irish threw eggs, bottles and shoes at Tony Blair?

    It would have been better to use bullets to kill that evil $onofabitch! Blair has branded the English people as stupid and vicious, a violent war-mongering population like the sheep-folk in capitalist/fascist Amerika and the ethno-racist Zionist bigots in the apartheid theocrazy of Israel.

  • Anonymous

    …the bottles are empty. The shoes might be filled.

  • Anonymous

    Any direct hits?
    Invite bush next time!

  • Anonymous

    Blair is a hate monger, I wish I could have been throwing eggs at him.

  • FartsAreFree

    Well said.

  • Chip

    Blair is worse than Bush since he was the smart one and really knew better.

  • Anonymous

    If they escorted her out after trying to make a citizen’s arrest, then the security guards are in breach of peace, and aiding and abetting in felonious activity.

  • Anonymous

    You really have to question anyone’s intelligence who would listen to bush.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    I guess they couldn’t find any rotten vegetables to pelt him with. It was truly deserved.

  • retaliate

    Sticker campaign to stick on his books. “Buying this book supports a war criminal”.

    Get busy.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KFOFZHLUNJCQATOHPSVHSFKP3I pw

    NWO psycopath criminal pedophile: Tony Blair!

  • Anonymous

    motorcade
    security barriers
    airport-like security
    security men
    police
    O’Connell Street, where the bookshop is located, was sealed off and access inside was being tightly controlled

    and exactly WHO PAID for all this security ? ? ? ?

  • Anonymous

    Like Bush and Cheney, Blair is a war criminal. All three also are war profiteers and should be imprisoned for life.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DRU2G2W4WAZYK4QBJK6YGU2COQ danieliukas

    The criminals are now protected by the police force. Does that bother anyone?

  • weztheaussie

    Don’t forget the scumbag Prime Minister of our country, John Howard. He needs to be in prison alongside them.

  • Jzjshh

    The Free press is owned by the government (rich)…………We are not suppose to know what really happens in the world………..We need to research information and use common sense.

  • Jzjshh

    The Free press is owned by the government (rich)…………We are not suppose to know what really happens in the world………..We need to research information and use common sense.

  • Jzjshh

    Many of us had been living in a comfortable economy and didn’t see beyond the next ipod or lap top for many years and we believed whatever “lies” our country told us……..Finally our eyes are open and we are seeing again……………Let us hope it isn’t too late.

  • Joe

    Too bloody right! You’ve hit the nail on that one! That says it all!

  • Joe

    Tax from hard working and I can see liberal minded people like yourself I’m afraid! So much for the idea of “democracy” what ever that might mean to some people like Blair!

  • Joe

    I fully agree with you there! It brings shame on Britain as I think Blair’s ruined the image of britain compared to what it was before as a liberal minded and diplomatic state when it came to war and global issues.

  • Joe

    Yes I think that says something… how anyone with the right mind would listen to (let alone worship) Bush like blair did.

  • Alexjones

    New World Order Terrorist they are ……………… http://www.infowars.com

    Rothschilds puppets work to enslave us all.

  • JedoWarrior

    Has anyone seen the movie “The Ghost Writer”? Pierce Brosnan plays a thinly veiled version of Tony Blair. The movie is about how a ghost writer for his book (autobiography) discovers that the CIA put ‘Blair’ into power and is manipulating him (writer nearly loses life uncovering this). There are protests about his being a war criminal during the book tour.. erie unfolding of events here. (spoiler alert!) Ultimately the ‘Blair’ character is assassinated, and it turns out his wife is his CIA handler. Movies are often a prelude to the actual events… let’s see what happens!

  • Nickzane

    MR. BLAIR SAID:
    One of the first things that you learn in politics is that those who shout most don’t deserve necessarily to be listened to most,” he told Irish state television RTE.

    Well Mr. Blair, I have one of my own sayings that’s just for you.

    One of the first things that you learn about the Global Elite as you further educate yourself is that almost nothing a puppet like yourself says is likely to be true and almost always is never entirely true.

    How’s that Mr. Blair? Does that saying suit you just fine?

  • http://kryppa.com/irar-henda-eggjum-i-blair/ Írar henda eggjum í Blair

    [...] http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/bottles-eggs-shoes-hurled-tony-blair-ireland-appearance/  Prenta Innlegg [0] PrentaDiggaðu það!Facebook [...]

  • http://www.hon-file-cabinets.net hon 2 drawer file cabinet

    Marry for money my little sonny a rich mans joke is always funny.

  • http://buy-phentermine-online.com phentermine

    A cool post right there mate ! Cheers for the post .

  • http://valium-diazepam.net buy valium

    The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.

  • http://www.wwwwwwwwgggtffsdfhzujzhdgfghj.com Victor Karper

    There is noticeably a lot to realize about this. I feel you made certain nice points in features also.