Protesters have been cleared from O’Connell Street in Dublin in an operation by gardaí (Irish police) in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Demonstrators have been blocking fuel distribution sites and many major motorways and roads in a protest over soaring fuel costs following the US-Israel war with Iran.
About 200 uniformed gardaí, the public order unit and mounted init surrounded O’Connell Street, while its water unit patrolled the River Liffey below and a Garda helicopter flew overhead.
Shortly after 03:30 gardaí asked people inside tractors and trailers to leave the area, all of whom did so peacefully.
Protesters listened to speeches on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on Saturday [PA Media]
A number of truck and tractors left the area before the operation began, while several others later returned to their vehicles and then drove away under Garda escort.
A number of tractors and trucks are still parked on O’Connell Street but RTÉ have reported gardaí have the co-operation of most of their owners to move them in the coming hours.
Gardaí also cleared the blockade of the M50 motorway northbound at Dublin.
However a blockade at Galway Port in the west of Ireland is continuing.
Demonstrators formed a barricade on the bridge leading to the port terminal on Sunday.
Hundreds of petrol stations in the Republic of Ireland have run out of fuel as the protests and blockades – involving slow-moving convoys made up of vehicles including tractors – is now in its sixth day.
Three key fuel distribution sites – in counties Cork, Galway and Limerick – have also been blockaded.
Hundreds of forecourts have run out of petrol and diesel due to the protests [PA Media]
A cabinet meeting will be held on Sunday where an update on ongoing fuel crisis talks will be given.
Meetings between government ministers and representatives of farmers and hauliers to finalise a new government funding package have been ongoing since Friday.
On Saturday, fuel trucks regained access to an oil refinery in County Cork that had been subjected to a days-long blockade.
Protesters who had been blocking trucks leaving the Whitegate Refinery were pushed back by gardaí using pepper spray, in an operation supported by the Irish Defence Forces.
The Garda commissioner said a number of arrests were made during the operation.
He added that blockades were illegal and “not a legitimate form of protest”.
“We gave these blockaders fair warning that we were moving to an enforcement phase and they chose to ignore that and continue to hold the country to ransom,” Justin Kelly said.
He added that gardaí were aware there had been intimidation of fuel tanker drivers.
“Offences such as threats to kill or cause serious harm carry sentences of up to 10 years,” he said.
“My message is clear – blockaders must immediately cease blockades of critical infrastructure and road networks or face the full rigours of the law.”
Tractors have been used to block routes across the country [Reuters]
The National Emergency Coordination Group, which brings together government departments and state agencies to coordinate emergency response, said fuel supplies for emergency response vehicles, including the ambulance service and fire service, are under “increasing pressure”.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin said the blockades meant the country was “on the precipice of turning oil away from the country” during a global oil supply crisis.
Speaking in Dublin on Saturday, Mary Lou McDonald the leader of Sinn Féin – the largest opposition party in the Oireachtas (Irish parliament), said the Irish government had allowed a “difficult situation” to escalate and urged it to engage with protesters to negotiate an end to the blockades.
Why are the protests taking place?
The conflict in the Middle East has caused rapid price rises for both petrol and diesel.
Some 20% of the world’s oil trade, the raw ingredient for producing both petrol and diesel, has been halted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Diesel in the Republic of Ireland has risen from about €1.70 (£1.48) a litre to €2.17 (£1.89) on many forecourts in recent weeks and petrol is now up to 25 cents more per litre at many pumps.
The protests started on Tuesday morning.