Thousands of protesters marched through Dublin on Saturday to call for an end to austerity, as Ireland prepares to vote in parliamentary elections.
The “Right2Change” demonstration brought together a range of anti-austerity groups under the banner of opposing controversial water charges, which have crystallized anger over a rise in poverty, budget cuts and tax hikes since an economic crisis and bailout in 2010.
National broadcaster RTE estimated up to 20,000 attended the march, which brought central Dublin to a halt as it snaked through the capital before the crowds filled a major thoroughfare to hear speakers address a rally.
Polls ahead of the election set for Friday show Ireland might be the latest eurozone country to face political uncertainty as Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his current coalition government could struggle to form a majority for a second term.
Protesters, who had traveled to Dublin from all around Ireland, carried colorful flags and banners reading “Can’t Pay Won’t Pay” and “Water is a Human Right,” and chanted “Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out.”
Attending the rally were leaders of the left-wing republican party Sinn Fein, which has seen its popularity rise to historic highs in polls as it embraced an anti-austerity stance.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said ahead of the protest that the 100 election candidates from left-wing groups and those standing as independent politicians who have signed up under the “Right2Change” banner represented a “real progressive alternative.”
“For the vast majority of families there is no recovery,” Adams said in a statement. “Next Friday citizens have a choice between more of the same or... a new government that will ensure working families are given a break.”
The water charges issue has galvanized opposition to austerity after the government began charging households for water, rather than financing through general taxation as had been done previously.
The eurozone nation has the highest economic growth rate in the EU — 7 percent in the first nine months of last year — but many voters say they are not feeling the benefit.
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