Courtney Brothers Circus Protest Day 2

Sunday, July seventh marks the second day of the set of protests on Liam Mellows Avenue, Arklow, County Wicklow. The set of protests are a peaceful opposition to the Courtney Brothers Circus in Arklow which features various animals and as discussed in Day 1, the circus has a history of animal mistreatment. On the Sunday two sets of protests occurred; one during the afternoon at 16:00 and one during the evening at 19:00. On both of these times the protesters would meet at the designated position and remain in that position for the allocated period of time that that has been organised by the group of protesters. Prior to the beginning of the afternoon protest, there was a group discussion. The topic the discussion involved certain aspects of the Courtney Brothers Circus or other circuses with regards the treatment of animals and certain comments that were directed at the group of protestors on Facebook. The comments that the members discussed were usually in alignment with the Courtney Brothers Circus. Following the group discussion, everyone took their positions and resumed the peaceful protest that commenced on Saturday the sixth of July.

Group discussion between the protesters

During the afternoon protest, there was a substantial increase in membership in the sense that there were more people, approximately 12 people were present, who participated in the protest itself; standing alongside the group of people and holding up the banners containing pictures and captions that were on the subject of animal cruelty or the poor standard of living for the animals that live out their lives in a circus. However there was a slight change in the air of the banners as the general tone of a number of the banners differentiated from the tone that is generally found in other banners that wish to broadcast a message to the general public. It should also be noted that some of the new banners seemed to be quite comical also, for example one of the banners was just a blank sheet with the word “honk” written on it. Some new banners made by Aran were also brought in to accommodate for the increase in the number of people who were participating in the protest.

Examples of the new banners

There was very little intimidation at first, in fact, when the protesters commenced their peaceful demonstration there was no direct or indirect opposition to be noted, but as time passed, there was a slight increase in the intimidation that was being committed against the group of protesters and while this was sourced from one of the workers at the circus, it was quite minor and it was the only time anyone had attempted to  intimidate the participants who had set up positions across the road from the Circus. One particular member of the Courtney Brothers Circus who was standing near the entrance to the circus had passed a particularly negative comment which was not directed at the group of protesters, but rather it was directed at a particular person who drove by and beeped the horn of their car in order to give some support to the protesters. As the driver was passing by, the worker referred to the occupants of that vehicle as a “fool”. Following this event there was nothing more to note with regards intimidation as the circus worker remained somewhat silent except for the occasional beep sound that they made with their mouths as drivers beeped to give their support to the protesters.

Video recording of the circus worker commenting on the support being given to the protesters

Despite the busy afternoon at the Circus, there was a significant amount of support from the general public for the protest as a large amount of people drove by and, very much like the sixth of July, shouted out words of encouragement to the protesters and to acknowledge this support the protesters often raised or waved their hands, put out their banners and smiled. There was also a growing interest amongst the public with regards the protest as there were people who walked by the group and accepted the flyers that were being given out by certain members of the protest.

Protesters acknowledging the support being given to them by a driver

Flyer being given to people

One of the most notable events that occurred during the afternoon involved the curiosity that the protest seemed to invoke in a set of children who were going to attend the circus alongside their mother. When the children caught sight of the protestors holding up their flyers, they sought information from their mother as they were curious as to what the protesters were doing. In reply to their question, the mother explained the purpose of the protest and the message the protesters were trying to emphasize.  She then let the children make a decision for themselves in terms of attending the circus or just going home. The children chose the latter and the group of protestors applauded the children’s choice to go home instead of attending the circus.

Protestors applauding the children

The evening protest was about the same as the afternoon. However there was a decrease in membership as there were only seven people who participated in the protest. The difference in membership was the only notable difference between the evening protest, commenced at 19:00, and the afternoon protest, otherwise the protest was about the same as the protestors continued their protest in a peaceful manner, letting the writings and the images that accompanied those writings broadcast the main message.

Evening group

There were a number of strange events that occurred during the protest however. As the support normally came in the form of beeps and encouraging words from drivers passing by in their vehicles, one woman came up to us and asked us about the protest along with asking about its purpose and while this showed that the protest in general had some support from the public as members of the protest discussed their intentions , accounts from other members of the protestors showed that the Courtney Brothers Circus was acting strange as the discussion went on as members of the circus stood outside the entrance and took photographs of the group speaking with the woman. This is quite strange as there is no reasonable explanation as to why the members of the Courtney Brothers Circus were taking photographs of the protesters as they were just basically explaining the purpose of the protest to a pedestrian and thus the photographs that the members of the circus are taking were of no relevance to the circus at all. Another strange event occurred at the very end of the protest when everyone was about to leave the designated position in order to head to their homes as a woman who worked at the circus walked over to the designated spot that the protestors were using as their designated area for the protest, sat on the curb and formed a pose. When I pointed my camera to try to get a picture of her posing, I was under the impression that this was another propaganda attempt that was similar to what the two men were doing yesterday, the woman caught sight of me trying to take the picture and she reacted by covering her face and stating that what I was doing was illegal, despite the fact that she was in a public place and there is no law against taking photos of a person. I only knew this after the event so I avoided taking the picture.

Protesters describing the purpose of the protest to a female pedestrian

My general opinion of today is quite positive as the support that the people of Arklow gave to the group during the protest was amazing from my perspective as a large amount of people who drove by often beeped the horns of their car and shouted to us and encouraged us to continue with our peaceful protest. The protest remained peaceful despite intimidation from the workers at the circus and it should be noted that, although they didn’t directly try to intimidate the protestors, the behaviour of the circus worker during the afternoon protest was atrocious as he is a worker at the circus, a place that is trying to gain publicity and rather than just acknowledging the person’s positive opinion of the protestors he goes as far as to pass an immature comment about the driver who gave some support to the protestors. Despite this negativity and the strange activities of the circus workers during the evening, the evening and afternoon protests went quite well and gained a large amount of support from the general people.

References

Event page for the protest: https://www.facebook.com/events/159137384270971/?notif_t=plan_reminder