An anti-racism march in Dublin is still set to go ahead this weekend, after organisers of separate events in Dublin and Galway said they were postponing their demonstrations.
Concerns have been raised about such demonstrations after a Black Lives Matter protest in Dublin on Monday was attended by thousands of people, making social distancing impossible.
The protest was organised following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and amid ongoing demonstrations across the US.
A number of other events have been planned across the country over the coming days, prompting calls from the Health Minister and other officials for the events to be cancelled due to the continuing coronavirus restrictions.
One group been planning to hold a demonstration outside the US Embassy on Monday afternoon.
However, organisers of that event say they've now cancelled it after 'recent correspondence' with gardaí.
They're also asking people to not attend the protest in an attempt to "protect organisers from potential prosecution".
Organisers said: "An Garda Siochana have not threatened or in any way attempted to intimidate the organisers.
"However, a number of safety concerns and potential criminal offenses surrounding the protest were raised and we have elected to cancel with the possibility of rescheduling."
The Galway Anti Racism Network, meanwhile, said they were postponing a planned protest on Saturday due to concerns about health risks, and would instead be organising an online protest.
Due to concerns about health risks regarding the COVID-19 crisis and taking into consideration the lack of social distancing space available to residents in Direct Provision centres, GARN have decided to postpone our #BlackLivesMatter protest until safety restrictions are lifted pic.twitter.com/625p9LfZTy
— GARN (@galwayantiRN) June 3, 2020
However, one of the groups behind a separate march planned for Dublin this coming Saturday said they had not cancelled their own event.
Grassroots group MERJ said that they would still be hosting a socially distant protest outside the Embassy.
The group is urging anyone attending to bring face masks and hand sanitisers wherever possible, with markers also being installed in the area to help people stay two metres apart from each other.
We have NOT cancelled our event - the cancelled march is a different march. We MERJ, @BlackPrideIre and @masi_asylum are hosting a socially distanced protest outside of the U.S Embassy on Saturday the 6th of June at 3PM
We'll see you there if you're within your 5KM pic.twitter.com/HQJhKRkHfp— MERJ Ireland (@merj_ireland) June 3, 2020
It comes after gardaí yesterday said an investigation is underway into the Black Lives Matter protest in Dublin city centre on Monday for any potential breaches of COVID-19 regulations.
Monday's event saw the numbers in attendance 'substantially exceed' expectations.
Earlier today, Health Minister Simon Harris said now is not the time for such large public protests.
He said: "I abhor racism - it makes me feel physically sick to the pit of my stomach, and I think the overwhelming majority of people in this country abhor racism.
"That doesn't mean we can ignore mass gathering guidelines - the reality of the situation is, regardless of your cause or how just the cause is, mass gatherings are dangerous at the moment."
