Day of Welcomes
Apr. 29th, 2004 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lostcarparkYesterday I missed my usual train, and had to get the Enterprise. This is the express train from Belfast and has no stops between Drogheda and Dublin Connolly so gets there in only 30 mins, which is followed by a 10-min wait and a 10-min DART journey to Lansdowne Road. Overall the journey takes about ten minutes less, so I'm not too much later.
Anyway, yesterday, when the Enterprise arrived in Connolly, there were about a dozen Garda immigration officers in dayglo yellow jackets. I assumed that they were watching out for non-EU citizens who might be looking for asylum status here. If they apply here, we have to look after them during the application process, but if they get caught before they apply the first EU country they entered gets to take care of them.
But while that may have been part of their mission, I now suspect that they may also have been on the lookout for anti-globalisation protestors, who may be on their way to cause trouble at the "Day of Welcomes" when ten new countries will be joining the EU.
I have a certain amount of sympathy for the anti-globalisation movement, but I don't agree with the strategies some of the protestors use. Unfortunately it's a case of the whole movement getting a bad name by the actions of a tiny minority. These are probably many of the same people who used to cause football riots, and have no interest in the cause.
So we could be in for an interesting weekend. On the one hand celebrations, joy and hope for the futures of the accession states, and on the other violence and strife.
I find the irony of trains being met by immigration officers in the run up to the "Day of Welcomes" both amusing and sad.
Anyway, yesterday, when the Enterprise arrived in Connolly, there were about a dozen Garda immigration officers in dayglo yellow jackets. I assumed that they were watching out for non-EU citizens who might be looking for asylum status here. If they apply here, we have to look after them during the application process, but if they get caught before they apply the first EU country they entered gets to take care of them.
But while that may have been part of their mission, I now suspect that they may also have been on the lookout for anti-globalisation protestors, who may be on their way to cause trouble at the "Day of Welcomes" when ten new countries will be joining the EU.
I have a certain amount of sympathy for the anti-globalisation movement, but I don't agree with the strategies some of the protestors use. Unfortunately it's a case of the whole movement getting a bad name by the actions of a tiny minority. These are probably many of the same people who used to cause football riots, and have no interest in the cause.
So we could be in for an interesting weekend. On the one hand celebrations, joy and hope for the futures of the accession states, and on the other violence and strife.
I find the irony of trains being met by immigration officers in the run up to the "Day of Welcomes" both amusing and sad.
