A young Dublin man, who claims he was badly beaten by gardaí at this week's Reclaim the Streets rally in the city, says he has no confidence in the Garda inquiry ordered by the authorities.
Mr Emmet Bunting, who has received 14 stitches to his face, said he would like the Taoiseach to rescind his comments of support for the Garda, which demonstrators claim used excessive force during Monday's street protests.
The 25-year-old part-time bar man and musician with the band Jalopy said his experience of alleged Garda brutality at the event had shocked and politicised him.
He said he was not involved in any of the network of largely anti-capitalist groups behind Monday's protest and it was his first time attending such an event.
Mr Bunting said he had attended the Reclaim the Streets street party with his girlfriend and 21-year-old sister, believing it would be a peaceful day out. He acknowledged that the crowd subsequently included some troublemakers who hurled bottles at gardaí and set fire to a car.
Mr Bunting said he joined in chanting "Nazis" and "Gestapo" at gardaí who he claimed were hitting teenagers as they attempted to clear them from the road along Dame Street after 6 p.m.
"I did a bit of chanting but I don't deserve to get a broken face over it," he said.
Mr Bunting said he was kicked and punched by gardaí as he tried to flee the violence. He was subsequently struck on the face by a baton-wielding garda as he was running down Dame Street, he added.
He fell briefly unconscious after the attack which he claimed came "out of the blue" and was completely unprovoked. "I just remember getting struck in the face and then I hit the ground," he told The Irish Times yesterday. "I didn't see it coming. I'm really shocked about it. You see things like this in Cape Town or in civil rights in America. It's very hard to accept that the gardaí were doing that to young people."
Mr Bunting was kept overnight in hospital. He is unable to eat due to his facial injuries. He said gardaí appeared to be striking people indiscriminately and that he did not see people damaging property or attacking gardaí. He plans to consult a solicitor for advice on taking a criminal case for assault.
An internal Garda inquiry is under way into the disturbances.