Irish police attack sacked Debenhams workers
In a calculated display of class violence, striking Debenhams workers in Dublin, Ireland, were manhandled and arrested late Thursday night as up to 60 Gardaí (police), some in paramilitary gear, dragged four workers, mostly older women, from the loading bay of the store in which many of them had worked for decades.
The workers, part of a group of around 30, were trying to prevent Debenhams liquidator, KPMG, from removing stock from the store where they worked until April last year.
One of the workers, shop steward Jane Crowe, described to RTE what happened, “We were forcibly lifted up. I was carried out. While they were carrying me out my jacket came off over my head, my jumper came off over my head. I was left with no clothes from the waste up and my under garments were broken as well. It was demoralising to be left half naked in front of 50 or 60 Gardaí, as well as the public and colleagues. There was no need for the heavy handedness.” Video footage shared on Twitter showed a clutch of police around one of the workers, while her terrified daughter shouted in protest.