A court in the UK has issued a warrant for the arrest of controversial University College Dublin (UCD) professor Dolores Cahill. Authorities have confirmed that Westminster Magistrates’ Court issued the warrant after Cahill failed to appear in the court on 10 August. She was due to appear on charges of two offences in relation to an anti-lockdown rally she spoke at in London last year.
In the last 18 months there’s been widespread anger from students and staff in UCD, as well as members of the public, because of Cahill’s behaviour.
Anti-lockdown rally
Cahill spoke at an anti-lockdown rally in Trafalgar Square in London on 19 September last year which attracted thousands of protestors on to the streets. The aim of the rally was to protest against the lockdown measures which the government had introduced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of the speakers at the rally claimed that the pandemic was false while others attempted to link it 5G technology. Cahill told the protestors the COVID vaccines were not safe and also that nobody was dying from the virus. And that as a result there was no “legal basis” for the introduction of the lockdown measures.
During the rally a number of protestors clashed with the police, resulting in 16 arrests.
Professor Cahill is wanted by the court in relation to her involvement in the rally and its alleged breach of the lockdown legislation which limited public gatherings.
An ongoing controversy
In recent months Cahill has been at the centre of controversy because of her claims about the COVID-19 pandemic. At anti-lockdown rallies in Ireland she’s insisted that children wearing masks lowers their IQ and that COVID is not as harmful as governments have made it out to be. She’s also told people that there’s a plan to set off a bomb in Rotterdam in order to disrupt the food supply and introduce martial law.
Students and staff in UCD, as well as graduates, have voiced their concerns about her behaviour and her association with the university. Speaking to The Beacon earlier this month, they related that they were “disappointed and frustrated” at the situation and that “There has to be a line”.
In July Cahill recently ran in the Dublin Bay South by-election. She received 179 votes.
Featured image via Screenshot
