"Give me your name and address or I'll rape you LOL"

*The key moments are highlighted at the start of the video you may want to skip to those*

In the west of Ireland, Shell, the multinational energy giant were given a very sweet deal by the Irish government (bribes imo, however I'm a terrible cynic) to exploit the oil and gas offshore. Locals, many of whom are dependent on fishing for their living objected to the plan to bring a huge pipeline of natural gas ashore near their homes. Things escalated from there.

The protests have gone on for years and lots of video is online of questionable behaviour (or outright violence) from Gardai (the Irish police). In this video two female protesters are arrested and the cops forget the camera is still running as they drive the women back to the police station in convoy. The women are not in the same car as the camera rolls and catches remarks about one of the women that have touched off a scandal.

Some people think this is a storm in a teacup, others evidence of a serious problem in how the Corrib pipeline protest has been policed, still others see it as evidence of a deeply misogynistic culture in law enforcement. I think that if we cant expect high standards from police officers while in uniform and on duty (and very well paid) then who can we expect them from?

The investigation has begun...
EMPIREsays...

yeah... as stupid as the conversation was, I don't really think they were actually planning on raping anyone, and they were, for all that matters, having a private conversation. They could have said the most atrocious thing ever, but it's still their fucking right to say it when it doesn't have any impact on the way they perform their job. For example, if they had said it within ear shot of one of the protesters, that would be a different thing...

moodoniasays...

The key moments are outlined at the start in the text, I suffered through the whole thing but thought it was worth posting it for completeness and context etc.

There is a partial transcript available here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/99445
[ These transcripts, as well as the recording, were provided to the mainstream media by the Rossport Solidarity Camp. The Gardaí in question were named in the original transcripts. The Irish Times changed the name of the Sergeant to “Garda A” and changed the name of the other Garda to “Garda B”. Rossport Solidarity Camp also decided to remove the names of the Gardaí before publishing here, but changed the Sergeant’s name to “Sergeant” and the other named Garda to “Garda A”, and incorporated this into the video file on Vimeo. Hence there seems to be an inconsistency between the Irish Times transcripts and the Indymedia transcripts, but there is not. “Garda B” in the Irish Times is “Garda A” on Indymedia and Vimeo. ]

Sergeant: “Who is them two lassies, do you know the two of them?
Garda A: “I don’t know the second one, the first one is with blonde hair.”
Unidentified Garda: “She was up on the tractor earlier on.”
Sergeant: “It’d do no harm to get the second one’s name again?
Garda A: “She’s some Yank. I don’t know who the fuck she is.”
Unidentified Garda: “ Is she a Yank?
Garda A: “It sounds like it, it sounds like it, the accent anyway
Unidentified Garda: “Sounds like a Yank or Canadian.”
Garda A: “Well whoever, we’ll get Immigration fucking on her.”
Sergeant: “She refused to give her name and address and told she would be arrested.”
Garda A: “.......and deported”
Sergeant: “And raped.”
Garda A: “I wouldn’t go that far yet….. She was living down at that crusty camp, fuck sake, you never know what you might get.”
Sergeant: “Give me your name and address or I’ll rape you.”
Unidentified Garda: “Hold it there, give me your name and address there, I’ll rape you.”
Sergeant: “Or I’ll definitely rape you.”
Unidentified Garda: “Will you be me friend on Facebook?”

The protest website is here: http://www.shelltosea.com including audio of a second incident in 2006 where the following exchange takes place:
Mr Monaghan: "Do you see the XL on the thing -- that's his mouth."
Garda: "It's my c**k and your f***ing wife will know all about it. I hope you're recording all that now, John."
Mr Monaghan: "Any more comments about my wife?"
Garda: "I don't know the woman.

Here is a documentary covering the protest and police handling:
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0405/media-2937397.html#

Kofisays...

The harm here is that the police are undermining their role as protectors by making light of the seriousness of rape thereby not only being complicit but also being a part of rape culture.

Put yourself in the women's place for a while. Even though they didn't hear the comments, how would you feel if you were arrested by someone that thought it was ok to joke about raping you, the very same authority that you would go to to seek justice if that was to occur?

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