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A Cork charity aide who filmed crowds of people during the Grand Parade over the weekend said the behavior has been going on “for weeks”.
The video, shot by Ali Hamou, shows hundreds of people gathered in the street, with some running and screaming as the number of gardai chase one individual.
Ali was in the Grand Parade with a number of volunteers from his One Human Community charity, serving food to the homeless when he saw the scenes unfold.
This morning he told PJ Coogan at 96FM Cork that he has decided to film the crowd to show people the reality of the situation.
“I got angry messages from people who criticized me for recording and posting it but I didn’t make it up.
“It was reality and the behavior is a danger to society, imagine one of those people who pick up the virus from someone else and take it home.
“I hope my video has a purpose. I just wanted people to know what was going on.”
Ali says that while Saturday night’s scenes have been particularly shocking, there have been crowds gathered on the street to drink alcohol over the past weekends.
“We are out every Saturday night from 7pm to distribute food to the homeless, and I saw it happen last week and also the week before.
“But on Saturday the number of people was surprising, most of them were drunk and had been there since early afternoon.
“It was mostly the young people I saw, starting from Electric to Daunt Square, I must have seen around 1000 people.
“There were people drinking from cups and cans, so I’m not sure if they drank from pubs, shops or anywhere.
“I didn’t see anyone who looked like they were under 18, but I saw a guard stop someone and ask for ID while they were drinking.
“I started shooting around 8pm, what caught my eye was a guard running after a man through Grand Parade and it took place on Tuckey Street
Then I turned around and saw a huge crowd of people coming towards me and four other gardai running after someone.
“I stopped recording because I was scared and thought it was safer to stop recording.”
Ali said that after bending over to film a Garda car mounted on the curb and that’s when he asked his volunteers to pack up and leave as the situation worsened.
“I was afraid for the volunteers, he wasn’t sure where we were. On any night, if there are signs of trouble, we leave.”
Ali said he received many angry and abusive messages after posting the video online, but had just come out to help those in need.
“I’ve lived in Cork for 20 years, so I know the city well and I know what I’m talking about.
“I came here as an asylum seeker, so now is the time to give back.”
Cork Mayor Joe Kavanagh also spoke to 96FM about the video “We shouted from the rooftops to encourage people to keep social distance and prevent people from gathering.
“This is just a kick in the face when I see big rallies like this jeopardizes the relaxation of restrictions.
“The last thing the retail and hospitality industry needs is to see things like this after a year of being starved for steps.
“I understand that young people are frustrated, but it’s not the time, big rallies like the one we saw at Grand Parade don’t help at all.”
Gardai confirmed yesterday that nine men were arrested on Saturday night due to a limited number of minor public order incidents.
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