Police remove fuel protesters from Dublin center as disruption over soaring costs continues

LONDON (AP) — Police broke up a blockade in the center of Dublin by fuel protesters who have brought much of Ireland to a standstill during the past week as the government prepared on Sunday to approve cost-cutting measures they hope will end the six days of disruption over soaring costs at the pump.

As tractors and trucks that had blocked O'Connell Street were rolling out of the capital, protests continued elsewhere, with police on the other side of the country clashing with demonstrators at the Galway docks where a military vehicle was used to knock down a makeshift barrier.

The protests have caused chaos as blockades at Ireland's only oil refinery and several vital depots prevented tanker trucks from delivering fuel to service stations and more than a third of pumps ran dry. Slow-moving convoys of vehicles also caused traffic jams on major highways.

Police began cracking down Saturday, using pepper spray to help clear protesters at the Whitegate refinery in County Cork and vowing to remove others who were endangering critical infrastructure and public safety because gas shortages could prevent response by emergency services.

“They are not a legitimate form of protest,” Irish police Commissioner Justin Kelly said on Saturday. “We gave the blockaders fair warning that we were moving to enforcement and they choose to ignore it and continue to hold the country to ransom.”

But a farmer who has become a spokesman for the group in Dublin said he was angry their peaceful protest had been “ambushed” by an army of officers overnight.

Christopher Duffy said police threatened to tow their heavy vehicles, so they had to leave.

“These vehicles are very expensive with automatic transmissions and everything, and if they drag them with the engine not on they could wreck them," Duffy said. “So we have no choice, financially we have to move the vehicles.”

Protests began Tuesday and have grown as word spread on social media, with truckers, farmers, and taxi and bus operators taking part and calling for help — such as price caps or tax cuts — to bring down fuel costs they say will drive people out of business.

Government officials, who had already introduced measures to ease the burden of price rises two weeks ago, have been baffled over the rationale behind the protests because the global price spike is due to the conflict in the Middle East that has restricted oil exports.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the move “illogical” and said the country was on the brink of turning tankers away at ports and losing its oil supply.

The government was expected to approve a measure to help reduce the cost of gas and diesel though it was not clear if it would be enough to halt the protest movement.