Gardai will form a ring of steel around Dublin tomorrow to prevent any anti-masker marches planned for St Patrick’s Day in the city spiralling out of control.
Around 2,500 gardai will be on duty across the nation to enforce public health measures with multiple protests planned to take place across the country.
Checkpoints will be set up on the main routes into Dublin which will focus on deterring people from travelling more than 5km from their homes on non-essential journeys.
There will be a huge garda presence in town itself, with members monitoring demonstration hotspots including the GPO, Grafton Street and RTE studios at Montrose.
Gardai including regular and specialist units such as the public order, do and mounted units will be on duty along with air support.
Gardai have asked the public to refrain from gathering in big groups to celebrate the national day with pals, echoing the Taoiseach’s words earlier today to avoid house parties and large gatherings.
The huge security operation aims to prevent what happened in the city centre last month, when a demonstration of anti-maskers ended up with violent scenes on Grafton Street that caused shock around the world.
Three gardai were injured and several protesters were arrested as the demonstration spiralled out of control. In one flashpoint, missiles were fired at gardai as the "peaceful protest" descended into chaos.
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