CovOps
Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Water Unleashes a Rebellion Against Government Agency in Relentlessly Rainy Ireland Sun Nov 16, 2014 2:12 am | |
| In her 43 years, mother-of-three Karen Doyle had never gotten so much as a parking ticket. But a couple of weeks ago, she found herself being hauled off by police in the Irish seaport of Cobh, which has become a flashpoint in the battle between the government and the populace over the most basic of elements: water.
A crew from the newly created national authority in charge of supplying water for a fee had arrived on Cobh, best known as the Titanic's final port of call, to install meters. Doyle and other residents were ready, thanks to a surveillance system they launched weeks before.
So-called "spotter cars" kept an eye out for Irish Water trucks trundling onto the picturesque community of 11,000, while a fleet of "floater cars" tailed the trucks to see which neighborhoods they planned to visit. A flurry of Facebook messages to team leaders brought reinforcements to the targeted areas.
That's how Doyle found herself standing over a stopcock valve on a neighbor's property as Irish Water employees put up orange barricades. After a standoff, police were summoned and Doyle had to quickly decide how far she would take her civil disobedience.
"I saw another woman holding the hands of two children at another home," she said. "Our eyes locked for a few minutes and I thought, 'This government has mothers standing out here to be arrested.' And I said to myself, 'I'm here for our children and to make this stand.'"
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/water-unleashes-rebellion-relentlessly-rainy-ireland-n247551 |
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