Unrest on Glasheen Rd: Locals offer sympathy, residents of house in clip fear further incidents

Young women who say they were threatened by two men at their home in Cork this week are now scared that people will throw bottles through their window at night.

A video, circulating online, shows two men entering through the front gate of a house on Glasheen Road, where they picked up and threw glass bottles — that appear to be neatly packed in bags outside — at an occupied house.

Gardaí have confirmed they are investigating the incident which occurred at around 12 midday on Wednesday. No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

The incident follows days of protests held by locals from Magazine Road and the surrounding areas in response to what they claim are large student house parties taking place in the area.

The video was taken by one of the young women inside the house from a top window.

In the video, one woman shouts: “Oh my God get out of my house. What the f**k?”, to which one of the men responds: “What the f**k yourself. We f***king live here. We have to f***king live here.” A woman responds: “We didn’t do anything, it’s our own house.”

Catherine Clancy, chairperson of the Magazine Road and Surrounding Area Residents Association told The Echo they were horrified by the video.

“We have huge sympathy for the young people that were in that house and those people’s actions have compounded what we are dealing with at the moment in the area,” Ms Clancy said.

City councillor Mick Finn also said locals do not believe the men in the clip are residents of the area.

A number of women, who told The Echo they are residents of the house, explained they were living there since September 2019. The group of friends, aged between 21 and 26, had not recently moved in. They had been working, but are now on the Covid-19 unemployment payment and are awaiting a return to work. They chose to remain in Cork for lockdown as they would otherwise have lost their accommodation, and would have been stuck if they had got a call to return to work.

The video, according to those living in the house, only tells part of the story. They say two men also entered their house through the front door and left the women intimidated by their behaviour. The tenants said they have been in contact with gardaí in relation to the incident.

They believe given their age they were targeted by people assuming they were ‘students’ who had just moved in.

“Nobody has any context (to the video) and they’re just fighting the battle between student houses and residents, and that’s not what happened here,” one said.

The women in the house say they understand the dangers of Covid-19 and were sympathetic to the protests held in previous days. They said gardaí have not been called to any house parties in their house. They do sit in their front garden with their next door neighbours sometimes.

A Garda Síochána spokesperson told The Echo that following reports they have attended approximately 10 incidents concerning house parties in the College Road/Magazine Road area in the last 10 days. No arrests were made.

“In each incident gardaí spoke to the residence and reminded them of the government regulations and guidelines. Gardaí are still approaching all Covid-related incidents using the 4 Es — engage, explain, encourage, and as a last resort, enforce,” the Garda spokesperson said. “Gardaí in the Cork City Division have increased patrols in this area.”

Councillor Finn said: “Gardaí are the only ones who should be ensuring public order but I did indicate to senior management that I feared people would take it into their own hands.”

Councillor Paudie Dineen has condemned the actions of the two men in the video, however, he said he can understand where frustrations are coming from, adding that this is an ongoing problem, and said students have “decimated this residential area for many years”.

“We shouldn’t tarnish them all with the one brush, but the actions of a few tarnish everyone else,” he said.